De Soto youth electrocuted, two more hurt

Authorities were trying Sunday night to determine what caused an electrical current to run from a dock into the water at a lake near De Soto - electrocuting one teenager and critically injuring two others.

Nicholas Harbison, 16, a star sophomore basketball player for DeSoto High School, was killed. Two other teens, Morgan Milfeld, 15, and Timothy Fitzpatrick, 15, were in critical condition Sunday at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur after having been flown there by helicopter.

All of the teens involved in the incident are students at De Soto High School, said Terry Noble, superintendent of the De Soto School District. He said grief counselors would be available for students at the junior and senior high schools today.

The incident happened shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday at Summer Set Lake, a gated subdivision off Highway E about five miles from De Soto. The subdivision has 330 houses situated around three small lakes with private docks.

Several teens had been in a hot tub at one of the lakeside houses, and some decided to jump into the lake, said Lt. Dave Marshak of the Jefferson County Sheriff's office.

Marshak says the dock at the lake has electrical power for a power boat lift and for lighting and somehow the current ran down an aluminum ladder into the water. Four teens were in the lake and began feeling the electrical current as they neared the ladder to get out, he said.

The owner of the home heard screams and jumped into the lake and pulled all four out of the water, Marshak said. The owner was the father of the fourth teen, Josh McClure, 18, who was unhurt, Marshak said. Paramedics quickly arrived at the house.

Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer said Ameren UE personnel and various county officials were investigating the cause. "There's some speculation that the water level rose and some water got into an electrical box, but we don't know anything yet for sure," he said.

The owners of the house did not want to comment.

Tim and Cindy Pochon said their son, Casey, a sophomore at neighboring Hillsboro High School, had grown up playing basketball with Nicholas, whom they called Nick, and the two boys continued to be friendly rivals in high school. They described Nick as an "all-around good kid" who was friendly and polite.

"He always had a smile on his face," Cindy Pochon said, "especially when he had a basketball in his hand. He lived and breathed basketball."

A softball game Sunday night in De Soto took place without Timothy Fitzpatrick's younger sister, Kinsley, a sixth-grader. The team members signed a card for her family, and coach Denise Litviaki planned to drive to the hospital after the game to drop it off. People have been visiting the hospital in droves, she said.

"All these families are a really tight-knit bunch," Litviaki said. "This affects the entire community because these families are all good families. They are kid-oriented families."

Reached at the hospital, Kyle Milfeld, Morgan's 21-year-old brother, said, "We just ask that everyone keep us in their prayers."

By Bill Bryan and Michele Munz

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

03/19/2006

 

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