California man electrocuted while putting up Christmas lights
Putting up Christmas lights was something that 24-year-old Antonio Pascual Mateo always did for his client, according to his loved ones.
On Thursday, that became Mateo’s last act when he was electrocuted while hanging up the lights on a roof in an unincorporated area of Escondido.
Escondido fire officials said he was found caught in a tree around 10:50 a.m. near the intersection of Skyline Drive and Idaho Avenue. The county medical examiner’s office said Mateo died at a hospital about an hour and 20 minutes after he had been discovered in the tree.
“He had so much to live, only 24 years old,” wrote Juan Pascual, the organizer of a GoFundMe set up to support Mateo’s family.
Mateo, who was an Escondido resident, had thrown the lights over a high-voltage power line, electrocuting himself, the medical examiner said. Pascual said he was trapped hanging in a tree while a rescue team waited for utility workers to turn off the power.
Once first responders got him down from the tree, paramedics deployed “aggressive resuscitative efforts” and took him to Palomar Medical Center, where he died.
Pascual said Mateo always took care of his mother and family.
Too late to save, “forever young he will remain,” Pascual wrote. “Christmas lights forever having a meaning to us, he will remain in our hearts for eternity.”
The GoFundMe had raised more than $5,300 as of Sunday afternoon. The funds will be used to “help family heal” after Mateo’s death, Pascual said.
A 24-year-old man hired to put up Christmas lights at a home in an unincorporated area of Escondido died Thursday when he was electrocuted, officials said.
Officials previously reported the man had suffered serious injuries in the incident, which occurred Thursday around 10:50 a.m. near the intersection of Skyline Drive and Idaho Avenue. The county Medical Examiner’s office said the man, Antonio Pascual Mateo, was pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour and 20 minutes after the incident was reported.
Mateo was “hanging Christmas lights on the roof while near a high voltage powerline” and “threw the lights over the powerline resulting in electrocution,” the medical examiner’s office said. He fell into a tree and was trapped hanging there,
According to a GoFundMe set up to support Mateo’s family, putting up Christmas lights was something Mateo always did for his client.
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