Negligent Homicide Charged by Army Investigation

Soldier’s Electrocution in Iraq Was Negligent Homicide, Army Concludes

Army investigators have concluded that a Green Beret electrocuted in a shower in his barracks in Iraq was the victim of negligent homicide in a case involving the largest American contractor in Iraq, according to a written statement from one investigator.
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Army: KBR negligence caused soldier’s electrocution in Iraq

An Army investigation calls the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq “negligent homicide” caused by military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors.

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Some Background:
A Dozen Soldiers Have Died From Accidental Electrocution in Iraq

During his two tours of duty serving as a special forces soldier in Iraq, Ryan D. Maseth had cheated death on more than a few occasions. While protecting a Baghdad polling place in December 2005, he ran toward enemy fire to help his fellow soldiers and to repel the attack. And after a Humvee in his convoy once hit an improvised explosive device, Maseth escaped injury and apprehended the perpetrators. But little did the staff sergeant know that when he stepped into the shower at his military base in Baghdad two months ago, he was putting his life at risk. Maseth, 24, of Shaler, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, was electrocuted on Jan. 2 when an improperly grounded electric water pump short-circuited and flowed through the pipes. Since the coiled hose was touching his arm, he was hit with an electrical jolt and went into cardiac arrest and died.
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Wiring warning came months before soldier electrocuted

An Army sergeant complained about faulty wiring in Iraq months before another soldier was fatally electrocuted in a shower in the same quarters, according to documents released Wednesday by a congressional committee. Sgt. Justin Hummer filled out a work order in July 2007 that warned, "Pipes have voltage, get shocked in the shower." Hummer told investigators from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that at least once, he had to use a wooden stick to turn off the shower "because the electrical current was so strong." Army records show that electricians from contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root found "several safety issues concerning the improper grounding of electrical devices" in February 2007. In January 2008, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in a shower in the same quarters where Hummer lived the previous summer. A follow-up investigation "found nearly all of the same problems and deficiencies that had been reported one year previously," a committee report states.
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