Existing comment:
1968 Spot News: The Kiss of Life:
July 17, 1967: Air conditioners hummed all over Florida. In Jacksonville, they knocked out the electrical system. Jacksonville Journal photographer Rocco Morabito was on his way to cover a railroad strike when he saw Electric Authority linemen up on the poles. Morabito grabbed eight pictures at the strike and hustled back to do the power outage story.
"I heard screaming. I looked up and I saw this man hanging down. Oh my God, I don't know what to do." The lineman, Randall Champion, was dangling by his safety belt, felled by 4,160 volts of electricity. "I took the picture right quick." Morabito saw lineman J.D. Thompson run to the pole. "I went to my car and called an ambulance. I got back to the pole and J.D. was up there breathing into Champion."
Morabito made pictures -- and prayed. Thompson shouted, "He's breathing!" Champion survived. |