- Wires snagged on a passing trailer brought eight poles crashing down
- The pole slammed into teacher Jeunelle Robinson, which was caught on video
- Family lawyer accuses power companies of discriminating against rural areas
Shocking footage shows the moment a popular young South Carolina was killed by a utility pole that snapped loose – and now her family plans to sue for $100million after the ‘rotting’ pole fell on top of her.
Surveillance footage captured the moment a trailer drove past Jeunelle Robinson, 31, in the small town of Wagener, South Carolina, snagging some overhead powerlines and bringing eight poles crashing down.
Robinson, who was starting her second year at Wagener-Salley High School, had been on her lunch break, when the video saw her walking across the street when the pole slammed into her.
She lay motionless on the ground as the pole swung back and forth in the August 23 incident.
‘Jeunelle’s parents will advocate for change in how large companies treat the citizens in rural areas where they use our small populations as justification for not upgrading our equipment and shine a light on the massive infrastructure inequities that have plagued our rural areas for far too long,’ family attorney Justin Bamberg said.
‘Companies with more money than South Carolina herself left loving parents, siblings, relatives, friends, students, teachers, and administrators with a void that can never be filled,’ Bamberg said.
‘Ms. Robinson should still be with us if only big utility companies had done decided to treat rural South Carolina fairly.’
Her family plans to sue for $100 million in compensation as well as $20 million for local power infrastructure and a $10 million trust for an annual scholarship for student teachers in Robinson’s name.
They say the utility poles were decades old and had been neglected and never replaced.
Robinson’s father, Donovan Julian, told a press conference his daughter had struggled in school herself as a child and loved her students.
‘She was taken too soon and was a joy,’ he added.
‘She wasn’t a quitter and she loved those kids. She’d say those were her kids.’
The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the case, and no one has been charged.
Local power supplier Dominion Energy extended its ‘deepest condolences’ to the family in a statement but said it is ‘too soon to provide any related details’ given the ongoing investigation.
The town’s mayor, Michael Miller, 69, told a public meeting the poles were so old he recognized a bottle cap that he had nailed into one as an 8- or 9-year-old boy.
Bamberg, who is a representative in the state legislature, said the eight poles fell over an area ‘maybe as long as a football field’, and one had last been inspected in 2014.
‘Some of the poles were over 60 years old and marked to be replaced over a decade ago,’ he added.
‘Completely avoidable situation.’
A statement from the school said Robinson’s death had devastated everyone who knew her.
‘Over the past year, she became friends with numerous colleagues and developed meaningful relationships with many of our students,’ it explained.
‘She was genuine and sweet to everyone she encountered, her time here feels much too short.’
