Man falls on electric fence around marijuana, dies
Officials confirmed Friday that a Fairview man died after falling on a high-powered electric fence that surrounded a large marijuana garden he had been cultivating.
Fairview Police Chief Granver Tolliver and Collin County Medical Examiner Dr. William Rohr said Paul Tanner III, 23, died at his home in the 1300 block of Red Oak Trail sometime Monday morning.
His body was discovered by his wife, whose name was not released by Fairview police. Tanner had gone outside while his wife was still in the house. When he failed to return after a couple of hours, she went looking for him and found him about 200 feet from the house, sitting motionless against the electric fence, Tolliver said.
The electric fence surrounding the garden was connected to a 20 AMP breaker, Tolliver said.
"This wasn't a normal electric fence - like a low-impeding type fence that reduces the amount of electricity that goes through it - like a farmer would use," Tolliver said. "He had run electricity straight from the house into the fence."
Tolliver said they are not exactly sure how Tanner fell on the fence.
"We don't know if he lost his balance or fell asleep, but it appears he fell backwards into the fence and could not get off the fence," Tolliver said. "It was like his weight was resting inverted on the back of the fence."
Tanner's wife called her father-in-law and told him her husband was not breathing and she couldn't get him to wake up. Her father-in-law called 911 and reported the incident to Fairview police, Tolliver said.
Tanner's wife attempted to pull him away from the fence and received a small shock, but was not seriously injured. She attempted to give Tanner CPR before Fairview public safety officials arrived. The paramedics found Tanner had no pulse and concluded he had died 30 minutes or more before they arrived, Tolliver said.
Rohr said the autopsy showed that Tanner died at 7:38 a.m. Monday from electrocution. He said test results will show whether he had narcotics in his system at the time of his death.
Tolliver said it is thought that Tanner had methadone in his system since he had gone to a clinic earlier that morning. Tolliver said the clinic gave him two methadone pills, but police found only one tablet in the house.
Police found 55 marijuana plants ranging from three to six feet in height inside the electric fence in Tanner's backyard. The plants were in potting buckets.
Tolliver said Tanner was on probation.
The plants were seized by the Collin County Sheriff's Office's Narcotics Unit.
Tanner's wife was not arrested. Tolliver said investigators think the plants belonged to, and were grown by, her husband.
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