City takes blame in dog's electrocution
City officials had scoured the streets for stray voltage and installed plastic plates to prevent electrical shocks in 20,000 boxes containing electrical wires across the city, they said. But two-thirds of the way through the job, they had not yet slipped the plastic protector beneath the round metal plate at the busy corner near Charlestown's City Square.
Sunday night, Katherine Bannon's dog stepped on the metal circle, which had been electrified by a loose wire hidden underground. The jolt of electricity killed the 6-year-old Labrador mix, which yelped and fell to the ground at the corner of Chelsea and Warren streets.
''No one should have to go through that," said Bannon, 28, her voice trembling yesterday as she spoke to reporters outside her apartment. ''No one should have to watch their dog die."
Yesterday, city officials took responsibility for the dog's death, at least the fourth from stray voltage since 2000. The city's preliminary investigation found that a wire beneath the sidewalk and beside the street light had frayed, said James W. Hunt, the city's chief of environment and energy.
The live wire apparently touched the metal sidewalk plate, which conducted electricity to the dog's paws, Hunt said. Investigators believe that repeated vibrations from cars and trucks traveling through the busy intersection had jarred loose the wire, Hunt said.
Following the recommendations of a task force formed to investigate the electrical problems, the city has begun installing plastic insulators, which do not conduct electricity, in about 30,000 boxes containing wires around the city. The project is about two-thirds completed and should be finished in about a year, Hunt said.
But the boxes on the street corner where Killian died had not yet been insulated. Yesterday, the city installed the plastic insulators on the corner.
In Charlestown, where a Labrador retriever named Oscar died in 2004 when he was electrocuted by an improperly secured electrical line, some residents were angry about the latest dog death.
''We're all furious that this is continuing," said Rosemary Kverek, a Charlestown resident and former dog owner, who stopped by the corner yesterday where Killian died.
Many dog walkers stride through the Chelsea Street intersection on their way to Paul Revere Park, often full of romping dogs.
''People are very concerned," said Steve Griffin, whose labradoodle, Sydney, ran through the park yesterday. ''It's happened a number of times without warning."
Last year, the city and
Former city councilor Maura Hennigan drove to Charlestown yesterday morning to inspect the spot where Killian died. As a councilor, Hennigan had championed the case for fixing the city's voltage problems and often raised the issue in her unsuccessful campaign to unseat Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
''Is the city waiting for somebody to die?" she asked yesterday as she stood on Warren Street.
She has asked city officials to make public the locations of the remaining spots where plastic insulators have not yet been installed.
Bannon and her dog had walked the route dozens of times before: down the hill from their apartment in the shadow of the Bunker Hill monument, across the rumble of Charlestown's Chelsea Street to the boat-clogged waterfront. Bannon, who moved to Charlestown seven months ago, watched, stunned, as the dog, named Killian after the Irish beer, fell down.
Killian's heart was beating after she fell down, she said, but the dog soon died on the street.
''It definitely demolished her," Bannon said. ''She just collapsed after the shock."
Bannon inherited Killian when she was a student at Elon College in North Carolina. Bannon thinks that by stepping first on the electrified metal plate, the dog might have saved her life.
''She was my best friend," she said. ''Now she's gone."
Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com. 
