Family Sues CenterPoint After Son Is Electrocuted During Harvey

HOUSTON, TX — The family of a man who was electrocuted while wading through floodwaters to save a family pet has filed a lawsuit against CenterPoint Energy and several others they believe contributed to their son’s death.

Andrew Pasek, 25, was wading through murky knee-deep floodwaters at his sister’s home in Bear Creek Village on Aug. 29, just days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall.

Pasek and a friend were at the home to rescue his sister’s cat that was left behind when she and her family were evacuated from floodwaters.

When Pasek waded closer to the home adjacent to the neighbor’s yard, he apparently felt an electric charge and warned a friend to stay away as he was dying.

Because of the electric current running through the water, it took first responders more than an hour to get to him as they waited for CenterPoint technicians to come and turn off the electricity.

As a result, the family has filed a civil suit against CenterPoint Energy for failing to shut off the electricity in flooded areas of the city, and Antwine Electric, and TE Connectivity Corporation, for what the suit alleges was a reckless disregard of safety leading up to and during Hurricane Harvey.

“One of the purposes of the lawsuit is to affect changes in the manner CenterPoint Energy manages its electricity grid during foreseeable natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods,” attorneys for the family said in a press release Wednesday.

Also named in the lawsuit are Dennis and Melanie Dossey, who owned the home next door to Pasek’s sister, where the lawsuit alleges the faulty electrical installation was made.

The family is seeking reimbursement for funeral expenses, and other punitive damages.

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Image: Courtesy, Pasek family

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