DETROIT – A Detroit homeowner is in the hospital after being shocked by a low-hanging power line in his backyard.
The wire was apparently a problem for more than a month and Daryl Jeter, the man who was hurt, had complained about it.
"He was laying on the ground kind of in and out," Dierra Jeter said of her father.
Before Dierra Jeter found her dad incapacitated, she was in the kitchen of their home on Chatham. It was just after dinnertime and her father was loading his bike into a pickup truck.
"I heard kind of like a smack," Dierra Jeter said. "I heard a yell."
She immediately called 911 and an operator talked her through what to do until emergency medical service personnel arrived.
"I followed her instructions: Make sure his head was back, make sure he was breathing," Dierra Jeter said.
When EMS workers arrived, Dierra said they were a little spooked by the power line that sags to just 6-7 feet off the ground, and had been for a while.
"I guess my dad kind of works around it," she said. "My dad has been calling DTE (for) at least a month."
The man living next door also has a low wire and said he called eight times before giving up.
DTE Energy Co. confirmed the first complaints on the lines were lodged April 7. The company said it made temporary repairs at the time of the complaint, but had scheduled temporary repairs for this week. DTE officials said permanent repairs couldn't be made at the time because it had to get scheduled and the pole had to be delivered.
"The permanent repairs couldn't be made right away because it had to get scheduled and the pole needed to be delivered. We had more than 6,000 permanent repairs to make across our service territory after the windstorm," the company said in a statement.
"It's really ridiculous," Dierra Jeter said. "That's so dangerous."
DTE workers arrived at the home about 45 minutes after the accident. They said they will be replacing the pole Friday, adding it has been leaning since it was damaged in the big wind storm a couple months ago. DTE officials said they had more than 6,000 repairs to make across the service territory after the wind storm.
Darryl Jeter will remain in the hospital overnight for observation.
Long read: How March winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people across southern Michigan