By Amanda Gillies
It was father's day and Raymond Tuporo – a father – was trapped in the wreck of his car, wrapped around a power pole. He was alive, but the power was still on.
By the time Vector turned the power off – nearly two-and-a-half hours after the crash – he was dead.
At the time, 3 News was told emergency services at the scene were frustrated. One worker was overheard saying: “Just turn the power off – I don't care if all of Onehunga goes black.”
To find out why that didn't happen, 3 News made an Official Information Act request.
The requested papers reveal the Fire Service was called at 2:18am and alerted that a person was trapped, but alive. At 2:25am an urgent request to Vector was made by the fire officer in charge. Two minutes later a further urgent request was transmitted. At 2:42am the officer in charge advised that Mr Tuporo couldn't be touched until Vector's arrival.
At 4:02am Vector was still unable to isolate the power, and was told to “isolate [the] greater area”.
Finally, at 4:40am, Vector advised it was safe to begin extrication, but that was too late for Mr Tuporo.
The Auckland area fire commander immediately laid a complaint over the time it took Vector to respond and attend to the emergency.
3 News asked why it took so long to switch the power off, and the response was: “Isolation was complex […] it was not a case of merely going in to a switch and turning it off."
3 News can also reveal that since August last year there have been “five occasions in which a fire officer at an accident scene has raised a question about the time it took for Vector or its contractor to isolate electricity'”.
However in each of those cases, the Fire Service later stated it was satisfied with Vector's explanations.
Mr Tuporo's case is still before the coroner – but his family certainly are not satisfied with what Vector is saying so far. 3 News asked Vector for an interview and were told that the issue was still under investigation by the coroner.
Mr Tuporo’s family says Vector and the emergency services are still keeping them in the dark, so 3 News gave his mother Glenda a copy of the OIA files.
“Now I know my boy was alive, it's just heartbreaking,” she says. “Somebody's got to pay for this – somebody.”
Mr Tuporo’s mother has a message for Vector.
“I hope you [are] proud of what you did. You more or less killed my son,” she says. “Maybe if you had of turned that power off they would have been able to save him. At least until his family got there.”
She says when she told Vector she wanted them to pay, they told her they had no comment and referred her to the police.
3 News