Cause of dog’s electrocution on public Pittsburgh sidewalk still unclear

PITTSBURGH — Channel 11 is continuing to press for answers after a family pet was electrocuted to death while walking on a public sidewalk in the City of Pittsburgh.

The tragic incident occurred Sunday afternoon after the dog stepped onto a metal plate that had somehow been electrified.

Channel 11 reported on Tuesday that the issue had been resolved, but both The Mayor’s Office and Duquesne Light Company could not tell us what caused the situation.

>> Channel 11 presses for answers after dog fatally electrocuted on public Pittsburgh sidewalk

A follow-up question to the mayor’s office, asking what is being done to ensure this doesn’t happen again, has not been answered.

We took our questions to Council Chambers on Wednesday. Several council members declined to comment, with newly-elected Council President Daniel Lavelle telling us that it was the first he was hearing of the matter.

Councilperson Barb Warwick, who represents the Squirrel Hill neighborhood where the incident occurred, agreed to speak with us, calling the situation “really upsetting.”

“I know that every body that is involved, DOMI, Public Safety, Duquesne Light, are doing everything they can to find out what happened and make sure that does not happen again,” Warick said.

She, too, wasn’t sure of the cause.

“I don’t know the details... I did call Zone 4 the day of, and my understanding was that there was live electricity that was immediately turned off, so, presumably, it was an electric current touching the plate.”

Warwick said that she has been in touch with the family impacted, as well as the veterinarian that cremated the dog, to “see how we might be able to support.”

Channel 11′s NBC partners in New York reported on a similar situation in February of 2022, after a snowstorm. In that case, it was determined that “the salt used to melt the ice seeps underground, which erodes the cables.”

While the Pittsburgh region saw snow over the weekend, no entity involved has pinpointed that cause as a possible explanation.

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