Clinton Charles, 20, the Sophia resident who was shocked while attempting to retrieve a kite stuck on a utility pole last week, remains an admitted patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) nursing severe burns about his body.
Charles fell from the pole in front of his house at approximately 10am last week Wednesday, minutes after he left to fly his kite.
“I said son, no more kite,” Charles’ mother Beverly Williams told Stabroek News. Williams said minutes later, she heard something explode and the television went off. She said she was having her hair braided but stopped her daughter and enquired whether there was a blackout.
Without much thought, Williams said she headed to the window, only to find her son descending from the electricity pole. “Well, I felt like I was going delirious,” the emotional mother said. She said the next thing she remembered was running to her son. Williams expressed her shock when she saw her son falling from approximately 30 feet. She further mentioned that Charles was lying unresponsive in wet soil as she stood over him “hollering.” “All he tongue was out, he head swinging on this one side,” she said, before adding that it was the intervention of a neighbour that got him speaking. A male neighbour, Williams stated, performed Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for about five minutes, before Charles “bring up three clot blood” and regained consciousness, shouting for her. Immediately Williams said, she called for a taxi to transport Charles to the hospital.
According to Williams, Charles suffered burns about the right side of his body. The burnt areas are his neck, the worst affected area; his back, arms and his face. She said hospital officials have since told her that Charles has to have an examination on his heart and that she has paid for it. Nothing more can be done at this point, she said, the hospital told her. Nevertheless, Williams said, she is grateful that her son is alive and responding, although he is in pain.
A Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) press release on April 23rd stated that Charles had come into contact with livewire while attempting to retrieve his kite. The release further mentioned, “This incident speaks directly to the public disregarding precautionary warnings issued by our company….” The release reiterated the dangers of flying kites near power lines, which is one of the warnings it advertises in the media.
