Linn County authorities have released the name of an electric line worker who died in a fall while trying to repair downed power lines. Thirty-four-year-old Eric Jones of Burlington, Wisconsin fell 90 feet from the boom of a utility truck. Jones was an employee of Hooper Corporation, a company contracted by Alliant Energy to repair downed power lines from the weekend ice storm and blizzard.
Emergency workers were called out shortly after 2:30 Monday on the report of a person being injured in a fall in Clinton Township in rural Linn County. An initial investigation indicated that a piece of equipment on the boom truck malfunctioned, causing the basket containing Jones to fall from the boom which was extended 90 feet into the air. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.