A North Carolina woman died from electrocution along with her daughter, officials said.
An autopsy released on March 7 found that Kendra Pittman, 30, and her 9-year-old daughter Siiyahh died on Aug. 10, 2018, from electrocution while they were staying at the Economy Inn Hotel and Suites in Rocky Mount.
While at the extended stay motel, the room’s air conditioner stopped working. The father of the family left to pay rent and tell the front desk that the air conditioner stopped working.
The desk clerk checked and reset the breaker, according to the autopsy, which was obtained by WRAL. When the father returned to the room he could hear the air conditioner running—and his 10-year-old son shouting through the door.
“Don’t touch the door. Mommy was shocked,” the son said.
An autopsy confirms that a mother and her daughter were killed because of a faulty air conditioner at the Economy Inn Hotel and Suites in Rocky Mount, N.C. https://t.co/BX9I5xbG9q
— WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) March 8, 2019
The man kicked down the door and found his wife and daughter on the floor, unresponsive.
The boy said his mother touched the door and “stiffened and became unresponsive.” He knocked her away from the door and tried to help her when his sister touched the door handle.
At the time of the deaths, Rocky Mount police told WTVD that Pittman went into cardiac arrest.
The cause of death was confirmed by the autopsy as electrocution.
UPDATE: Woman and 9-year-old girl dead after AC unit malfunction at Rocky Mount motel https://t.co/6YH7ZWUoin pic.twitter.com/gOyekpFlkJ
— ABC11 EyewitnessNews (@ABC11_WTVD) August 21, 2018
Following the deaths, Ronald Hall, Pittman’s boyfriend and the father of the children, lamented the losses.
“I shouldn’t have had to lose a daughter. I shouldn’t have had to lose a girlfriend,” he told WNCN. He recalled what happened, remembering his son’s warning. “He told me, ‘Daddy, don’t open the door,’ and I’m like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘It just shocked mommy,’” Hall said.
Family members said Pittman was a good mother.
“She worked hard for her kids. She did everything she could,” Pittman’s aunt Cynthia Williams said.
Police: Mother, daughter electrocuted by A/C unit at North Carolina motelhttps://t.co/pnUNuhGU9C pic.twitter.com/wy7JZ28Z7N
— WSOCTV (@wsoctv) August 22, 2018
Worker Dies From Electrocution
Meanwhile, a Georgia worker died after being electrocuted on March 7, authorities said.
The 60-year-old man was working on cable lines in Spalding County from a bucket truck when he was electrocuted. The utility contractor was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene.
Members of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division were working at the scene along with county coroner Sonny Foster, reported WXIA.
Utility worker dies while working in bucket truck in Spalding County https://t.co/z5a8GtOCYi pic.twitter.com/nElfe0iLqc
— 11Alive News (@11AliveNews) March 8, 2019
#BREAKING: Comcast worker in bucket truck electrocuted on power lines in Spalding https://t.co/bO1nvXZAVE
— AJC (@ajc) March 7, 2019
The exact cause of death was not pinpointed but was likely electrocution, officials said.
Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were notified due to the man dying on the job.
The victim’s name has not been released.