Mar 21, 2008 6:17 pm US/Pacific
Family Of Electrocuted Soldier Sues Contractor
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (CBS) ―
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A photo Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth from his MySpace.com page.
MySpace.com
They're supposed to be helping our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but one local soldier's family says a big government contractor's faulty work killed their loved one.
It wasn't a combat operation that claimed the life of 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, of Shaler, on January 8, but a shower.
Cheryl Harris, his mother, says she was somewhat prepared for the possibility of losing him to combat, not - as she believes - someone else's incompetence.
Maseth was electrocuted in the shower apparently because of faulty wiring in his living quarters allegedly setup and managed by a billion-dollar government contractor Kellogg Brown and Root Services.
A short in a water pump set up by KBR is believed to have traveled to the shower head. Myseth touched it and was killed. This tragedly was apparently not an isolated incident in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Family attorney Patrick Cavanaugh says there have been 12 electrocution deaths in Iraq. The family has filed a wrongful death civil suit in Allegheny Common Pleas court. Cavanaugh tells KDKA the Texas-based government contractor who boasts of its safety record on its Web site knew Mayseth's quarters were hazardous.
KBR has not responded yet to the lawsuit and did not return a request for comment.
Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Wednesday he has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to hand over documents relating to the management of electrical systems and facilities in Iraq.
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