High Voltage Kills Bonaparte Man: 1980

GROVES, HARRIS, SMITH

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 1/18/2016 at 07:13:39

High Voltage Kills Bonaparte Man

A Bonaparte man, inspecting damage to his car in an accident, died Friday when he slipped and fell onto high-voltage lines, authorities said.

Van Buren County Sheriff Marvin Story identified the victim as Douglas Groves, 25.

Groves was a passenger in a car driven by Thomas Wayne Harris, 25, of Fairfield. The Harris car was westbound on the blacktop two and a half miles east of Birmingham on the Birmingham-Stockport blacktop, when it went out of control at 5:25 p.m. The car went into the ditch and sheered off an Iowa Electric Light and Power Company utility pole. The pole was snapped off, the sheriff said.

Other passengers in the car were Mary Harris, 19, Dolores Harris, 17, and Dave Smith, 23, all of Fairfield.

The occupants got out of the car and Groves was inspecting the car when he slipped, fell onto the wire and was killed.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at Van Buren County Memorial Hospital, Keosauqua. Smith had grabbed Groves and the electric current knocked Smith down and burned both his feet. He was treated and dismissed from the hospital.

Thomas Wayne Harris was charged on three counts: failure to maintain control, driving while license was under suspension, and failure to report an accident with a motor vehicle by the Iowa State Patrol.

Harris was held in Van Buren County jail Friday night. A preliminary hearing was held Saturday morning before judicial magistrate J.W. McGrath and bond was set at $1,000 on the driving under suspension charge and $100 each for the other two charges.

**Handwritten: cc 6 RR 22 may 1980 p. 1

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book F, Page 92, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA