Severe Electrical Burn Injury – Video Transcript

Dave McNabb Video Testimonial

Below is the transcript of the original YouTube video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvkd8cHowPE
(The YouTube video will open in a new window.)

Dave: My accident was… I was electrocuted with 12 500 volts which not only electrocuted me but lit me on fire. And I was burned – 70 of my body at that point. Video text: Dave McNabb, an apprentice electrician, was contracted by IBM to service its high voltage electrical equipment. Dave was sent to scavenge a replacement part from a power station that was “locked off’ and tagged “out of service”. What Dave could never have known was that power was flowing through a line in the box. As Dave applied his wrench, 12,500 volts of electricity surged into him which led to a 35 million watt electrical explosion in his body. Dave: All I remember is seeing the widest light you could imagine. It was just really bright. It held onto me for a good five six seconds, it seemed like, and then exploded, kicked me back into a wall. I was probably eight or ten feet up the wall. I fell to the ground, and I was on fire, and I was trying to pat it out to get the fire out, but I was laying on concrete, and it was real difficult. While I’m laying there, I got to hold my arms up because all the flesh is hanging off of them at this point. I’ve been burned so bad that I can’t see myself, so I’m not sure how burned I am, but from my waist up I’m burned pretty bad. At first you’re kind of in shock about the whole thing and it kind of wears off. They can’t give you anything on the ride to the hospital, and by the time you get there you’re in some serious pain that you’ve never felt before. The nurse that was next to me said okay we’re going to give you something for pain and at that point I was in dreamland. They put me into a coma is what they did. Video text: With severe burns covering 70% of his body, Dave underwent nearly 60 operations and skin grafts. As time passed, Dave’s medical bills topped $6.5 million. In desperate need of legal help, Dave and his family hired a lawyer to handle his case. Dave: The first day that I met the lawyer that my dad had hired to come and hear my case. He right off the bat I just knew this wasn’t the guy. I mean he came in and and he, you know, he, I don’t know, he kind of felt sorry for me and everything, but he acted right away like there was no case. I mean, here we were fighting this huge company, and it seemed like it was out of his league or something, like he there was no way possible he was going to take on this company that, you know, could tie him up in court forever or, you know, just it was going to cost so much money, so he didn’t see, you know, huge profit or something. That’s the outlook I got from this guy. He was like, you know, oh this case is going to be too difficult. Later on I learned that he told my dad that we didn’t have a case. That’s what he told us – you don’t have a case. And I’m thinking to myself how do we don’t not have a case. I mean, I did exactly what I was told to do, and here I’m on the verge of dying. I mean, come on. My mom had run into somebody in Dick’s office, and that’s how we got, we learned about Richard Alexander. Richard came to see me in the hospital, and the moment he walked in the room it was totally different from the first lawyer. I mean, I haven’t experienced lawyers before at all, so it was like night and day. Richard, when he came into the room, was uh just a shining light, you know. He was very upbeat and wanted to know everything that happened to me, and he just uh he made the whole process just very easy on me. Once Richard got involved, there seemed to be a whole process to go by. Before that we were up in the air about what to do at any step, and when he took over, we knew exactly what was happening and when. From the get-go I remember him saying we’re gonna take care of this. We’re gonna make it right, you know. This is not what’s happened to you so far isn’t, it isn’t right. Video text: Richard investigated the explosion and discovered that the cause was a dangerous double-wired design. Experts in the field said that the system was such a trap that it could have fooled a highly experienced journeyman electrician. Armed with new evidence and expert testimony, Richard refiled suit… …and reached a final settlement of $15.5 million. Dave: How do you thank somebody that saved your life? I mean, you can’t really tell them thank you enough.You know, where I’d be if it wasn’t for him, I mean. I’d probably be either dead by now because of not having enough money to pay for medical expenses, or I’d be in a hospital somewhere dying. That’s where I’d be. So how do you thank somebody for that? uh-huh Geez! He’s like a, you know, he’s like your knight in shining armor. What do you… what he… what can you say? Video text: If you’ve been injured, contact Richard Alexander. 1.888.777.1776 alexanderinjury.com