MCTV worker dies from apparent electrocution while installing line near Brewster

TUSCARAWAS TWP. ‒ A 29-year-old MCTV employee died Tuesday afternoon due to apparent electrocution while installing fiber-optic cable along Ohio 93, the Stark County Coroner's Office said.

Trent Hooper of Sugar Creek Township was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. in the 4600 block of Manchester Avenue SW, just north of Sugar Creek Township and the village of Brewster, said Harry Campbell, chief investigator for the coroner.

Campbell said Hooper suffered injuries consistent with electrocution, and it appeared he died immediately on contact with an electrical line. He said investigators have not found any witnesses or surveillance video that showed what happened.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy Wednesday morning in Cleveland. The medical examiner's staff is expected to present preliminary results to the Stark County coroner in a video conference call later this week.

Campbell said Hooper's wife got a notification from her phone that her husband was at the 4600 block of Manchester Avenue SW from around 3:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday. She called him at around 4 p.m., and he did not answer his phone. After not hearing from him, she told Campbell that she asked Hooper's co-worker to go check on him.

Hooper's colleague drove there and found Hooper's utility vehicle by the road with its bucket more than 30 feet in the air, Campbell said. He had to call Hooper's supervisor for instructions on how to operate the controls to lower the bucket. He then found Hooper's body in the bucket. Hooper's co-worker called 911 around 5:30 p.m.

A Brewster Fire Department ambulance rushed to the scene and confirmed that Hooper was dead. Campbell said it appears Hooper came in contact with a high-voltage FirstEnergy power line high off the ground by two tall trees. Hooper had been seeking to install fiber-optic cable to connect two nearby homes.

Campbell said the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration and Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation sent investigators to the scene. Hooper's employer, MCTV, was formerly known as Massillon Cable.

A woman on GoFundMe who said Hooper was her children's father said she was seeking to raise money to cover funeral expenses to help Hooper's wife. The GoFundMe post said Hooper left behind three children.

A Facebook post apparently from his Hooper's wife, Page Hooper, said, "Anyone who knew him, knows that man would do anything and everything for anyone. His soul was so beautiful. I am beyond grateful and blessed to have lived a life with him. He had shown true love, compassion, empathy, patience. He was the absolute best father to his babies and loved them with everything he had. My entire world has fallen apart in just a matter of seconds."

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: MCTV worker dies from apparent electrocution while installing line near Brewster