A 35-year-old Kansas City man was killed Monday in Parkville in a tree trimming accident. Carlos Enrique Gomez-Escobar died instantly when the metal buckle on a security “buck” strap he wore touched a nearly 8,000-volt power line. The accident occurred at about 9 a.m. June 16 in the 6500 block of Rock Garden Road, near Highway 9. According to Parkville Chief of Police Kevin Chrisman, when police responded to the scene they found Gomez-Escobar in a tree, which was on fire, and two other tree trimmers shaken but unharmed on the ground. Chrisman said it appeared Gomez-Escobar was trying to free a trapped branch when his strap touched the live wire. Emergency responders were forced to wait for Kansas City Power and Light crews to deactivate the power line. The tree trimmers worked for a private Independence-based company and had been hired by a homeowner to complete the tree work.

The Platte County Citizen