Tennis Electrocution Leads to Lawsuit

NASHVILLE (CN) - An apartment complex where a 23-year-old man was electrocuted while playing tennis last month failed to properly maintain the lighting around the court, the dead man's family says in a lawsuit.

Kevin Salazar was playing tennis at Meadowood Village in Antioch, Tenn. on Sept. 24, 2014, when he went to retrieve a tennis ball that had been hit out of the court. Salazar was walking near a light pole on his way back with the ball when he was killed by its electric current.

In a lawsuit filed in Davidson County circuit court, Victor Salazar and Martha De Salazar Reyna claim the utility pole used to light the court "was completely unsafe because defective electrical wiring within the pole caused the pole to become electrically energized."

Of their son, they say: "When he came into contact with the pole, he lost muscular control due to the lethal current flowing through his body and was unable to remove himself from the painful and fatal electrical shock. The defective light pole caused Mr. Salazar to be electrocuted and killed."

The family is seeking $40 million in damages.

They are represented by Randall Kinnard of Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge in Nashville.

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