Worker Electrocuted In Edgeworth

EDGEWORTH (KDKA) -- A man was electrocuted while working in a cherry picker in Edgeworth.

This happened in the 400-block of Chestnut Street which is near Edgeworth Elementary School.

Chester Sipes, 47, of Aliquippa was working for DLS Tree Service. As the bucket went up, Sipes hit a 30-foot line that was carrying more than 13,000 volts of electricity.

"I looked over and I saw a large flash and I realized that someone had just been electrocuted," Edgeworth Police Chief John English said. "And I saw the man in the bucket and he went down inside the bucket."

Sipes was taken to Sewickley Valley Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Officials tell KDKA-TV the windows of the kindergarten and fourth grade classes face the area where the man was killed and some of the children saw the fatal accident.

It took rescuers additional time to bring the bucket down because the power went through the truck and severed the vehicle's hydraulic lines.

In Hopewell Township, several friends of Sipes reacted to his electrocution.

"He was a worker, he was a good guy, we had a lot of fun together, we were kids growing up, you know, to be 48 next month I mean, he's just too young to go," Charles Calderon said.

Sipes was married and the father of four children. He ran a small company called DLS Tree Cutting.

"He loved his family, he loved his children and he really worked his butt off," Calderon said.

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