File this one firmly under ‘Do Not Fucking Do It’, folks.
32-year-old Wiley Day from Huntsville, Alabama was electrocuted when he fell asleep next to his charging iPhone. The charger itself was plugged into an extension cord, the end of which was on the bed next to him.
When Day rolled over the following morning, a dog tag necklace he was wearing caught the exposed prongs between the charger and the extension cord after it had come loose. As you can imagine, old mate got the shock of a lifetime.
He described it to The Washington Post as “the eeriest, darkest, most demonic thing you could ever experience. I don’t have enough adjectives to describe it.” Demonic paints a pretty good picture. Fuck that.
Day said that moments after the shock had begun, he stopped feeling anything.
“Your body is numb at that point,” he said. “I guess people would think it would be burning, but in my case I felt a whole lot of pressure around my neck.”
He also recalls being extremely aware of his own heartbeat as it pounded in his ear. Luckily, Day was able to tear the necklace from his neck, saving his own life.
The telltale sign of smoke seeping from the extension cord alerted him to what had happened. He went straight to his family doctor who immediately admitted him to hospital. He copped second and third-degree burns to his neck and hands.
“He is lucky to be alive,” Physician Benjamin Fail told WAAY News. He reckons Day got hit with roughly 110 volts of electricity, stating that 100 volts is enough to kill someone.
So when you plug your phone into a charger tonight, do yourself a favour and put it somewhere far away from your bed. I would recommend a large, non-conductive, fireproof box.
Source and photo: The Washington Post.
