COP BRIEFS

One man is dead, and another severely injured after thousands of volts

of electricity coursed through their bodies during an accident at a

Huntington Beach nursery last week.

Monroe Pacific Nursery employee Mario Negrete, a 51-year-old Stanton

resident, and a second man whose name was not released, were helping to

move a large palm tree, steadying its base while it was moved with a

crane, at about 1:14 p.m. April 12 when the accident happened, Huntington

Beach Fire Department officials said.

The top of the palm tree brushed against some power lines running

above the nursery at 10449 Adams Ave., sending 60,000 volts of

electricity down through the tree to shock Negrete and the second

employee.

Paramedics arrived to find Negrete barely breathing and performed CPR,

but he was pronounceddead at Hoag Hospital 20 minutes later, fire

officials added.

The second employee, a man in his mid-40s, was taken to the UCI

Medical Center, where he is listed in fair condition and undergoing

treatment for third-degree burns to his hands and feet.

Police seek suspect in shoe store holdup

Huntington Beach police were still searching this week for a suspect

in the armed robbery of the Payless Shoe Store at 9842 Adams Ave. on

April 11.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male in his mid-20s, between 5

feet 6 and 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build, mustache and goatee.

He was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans at the time of

the incident, Sgt. Irwin Feuerstein said.

A store clerk told police that the man entered the store alone with

semiautomatic handgun and demanded money.

The clerk, Feuerstein said, emptied the cash register and turned the

money over to the suspect, who then fled through the Target Center

parking lot.