Man electrocuted after stepping on power line in Detroit

DETROIT (WJBK) - People living on Dobel Street, near Van Dyke on Detroit's eastside were shaken up after one of the neighbors saw smoke, went outside and saw a dead body.

Police say it was a horrible accident - the man was walking through an alley at 8 a.m. Friday morning when he stepped on a downed wire and was electrocuted.

"I look in the alley and I saw a leg on fire," said Jimmy Robinson. "And then I saw a face, but sideways then I came in and called 911."

"He was very severely burned, he didn't have any identification on him," said Sgt. Andrew Guntzviller, Detroit police. "We're going to have to go through the identification process through the morgue."

Investigators and neighbors are trying to figure out why the man was walking though the alley in the first place. It is a heavily wooded area and there is no clear cut path.

"He appears to be 40 or 50, possibly an African-American male," Guntzviller said. "Possibly mixed race it is difficult to determine at this time because of the thermal injuries to the body."