KIRBYVILLE - by Steve Stewart/KJAS - A Louisiana man died on Thursday evening after he received a severe electrical shock in Kirbyville. The accident occurred shortly after 7:00 in front of Weaver Motors on Highway 96.
Kirbyville Police Chief Jeff Clopp said 38-year-old Charles D. Goudeau of Ville Platte was an employee of Koigi's Signs out of Slidell, Louisiana. Clopp said Goudeau was using a cherry picker and bucket to change light bulbs in the sign when he apparently came in contact with a live wire.
Clopp said two other workers, who were on the ground operating the truck when the accident occurred, lowered Goudeau to the ground where he was pulled out of the bucket by Kirbyville Police officers.
Clopp said that an ambulance was not available and that the first medical personnel to arrive at the scene was a medical first responder from the Buna Fire Department who performed CPR on Goudeau for over an hour, until an ambulance and EMS personnel arrive at the scene.
A medical helicopter was sent to the scene, but Goudeau was not stable and he had to instead be transported by ambulance to Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m.