'My stomach knotted up': $130 million lawsuit threatened after utility pole falls on teacher

When Wagener Mayor Mike Miller was 8 years old, he nailed soft drink bottle caps from his grandfather's grocery store to utility poles in downtown Wagener. More than 60 years later, the poles donning Miller's decorations remain standing, which some say highlights a now-deadly infrastructure issue.

Attorneys representing the family of Jeunelle Robinson, a 31-year-old social studies teacher who was killed on Aug. 23 by a falling utility pole in Wagener, South Carolina, said her tragic death last week was the result of utility companies putting profit above the lives of people who rely on them.

The old, crooked utility poles had sagging power lines which, when snagged by a tractor-trailer on Aug. 23, sent eight poles flying through the busiest road in town.

One of the poles struck Robinson as she was walking along Main Street during her lunch break. She later died from her injuries.

Teacher killed: Wagener-Salley High School teacher killed by falling utility pole in Aiken County

The family released a graphic video of the incident Monday night, which appears to be taken from a business security camera.

"The decision was made to release the video because people need to understand she’s not just some teacher," attorney Justin Bamberg said during a press conference Tuesday morning.

Robinson's parents looked away as Bamberg played the video.

"My stomach knotted up the first time I saw this," he said. "It's obvious that she heard something or noticed something was afoot, but didn’t have any time to react."

It was later learned that the poles that fell were so rotted, they appeared to be hollow on the inside, according to Bamberg.

"This is a utility pole with no wood," he said. "I wouldn't even call that mulch... The poles are supposed to hold the lines, the lines are not supposed to hold up the poles."

Bamberg claims the utility companies, specifically naming Dominion Energy, knew the utility poles needed repair or replacement, but instead looked the other way.

"Dominion Energy has a project in the works called the Wagener Connection; it's all public on their website," he said. "It is a project fixing and improving electrical infrastructure in Wagener. Dominion publicly acknowledged the equipment life span is 60 years and said [the poles in Wagener] needed to be replaced."

The poles that fell are estimated to be 70 to 80 years old, according to Bamberg.

"It costs about $5,000 to put up a new pole – we had eight poles fall, that's $40,000," he said. "This absolutely could have been prevented if people had done their job the day before, 10 years before 20 years before. ... Unfortunately, it is something that rural parts of this state and small towns have struggled with for a very long time. [Companies] try to stretch out the lifespan of their utility infrastructure as long as they can [because there are less ratepayers]. That's how this happened."

Photos displayed during the press conference showed structural or maintenance issues with the poles dating back to 2013.

The family is demanding the utility companies involved pay $100 million in compensation, $20 million to start a trust fund in Robinson's name for scholarships and $10 million to repair or replace the remaining poles that pose a threat to the community.

"This is not right. What happened to her is not right," Bamberg said. "We're going to fight and we're going to push to make sure this doesn’t happen again in Aiken County or any of our rural communities."

Bamberg said if the companies refuse, a lawsuit will be on the table.

He confirmed Bamberg Legal has not yet had any communication with the utility providers regarding a settlement.

In a statement to media, Dominion Energy said, "[We] extend our deepest condolences to the family of Jeunelle Robinson. Because the investigation regarding this accident is ongoing, it is too soon to provide any related details."

Looking at how the state can get involved, South Carolina state Sen. Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg) also spoke at the press conference, promising to review how utility companies operate and expressing the need for legislation that will hold utility companies accountable for maintaining their infrastructure.

Video released of teacher's death: Family of South Carolina teacher killed by utility pole claims incident was 'avoidable'

"We need a system that makes [utility companies] do routine inspections," Hutto said. "Then, we need to create an agency that monitors the results."

Bamberg, who is also a South Carolina state representative, said right now, utility companies only need to seek approval with the state for rates.

"In terms of their own infrastructure, it belongs to them," he said. "No one can make them do anything."

Bamberg said the legislation would eliminate the risk of utility companies forgetting to make repairs or deciding not to do so. He added Robinson would "definitely" be part of the discussion.

"The general assembly limited the practice of naming laws after people with rare exception. However, that is definitely something that we will be looking at," he said. "I know that Sen. Hutto, Sen. [Nikki] Setzler (D-Aiken) and a lot of others are going to be working together to try to fill what is an obvious gap in our our state system of utility infrastructure."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Family of SC teacher killed by utility pole threatens $130 million suit