DETROIT – Surveillance video shows it was 3:27 a.m. Wednesday when a man wearing a tan puffy coat with a hood approached a DTE Energy truck in the middle of Joy Road in Detroit.
The utility worker was guarding a downed line when he suddenly became the victim of an armed robbery. The robber knocked on the truck window with a revolver. He ordered the worker out of the truck and onto the ground. Then he robbed him at gunpoint.
The robber ran away the same way he came across Epworth Street.
The worker was not hurt, and he only lost $2. Police usually monitor the area where a utility worker is guarding a downed power line, but that was not the case early Wednesday morning.
From DTE:
Specially trained public protection teams are DTE employees who normally perform office and support functions. Their job is to ensure safety of DTE customers, their children and pets and keep them from coming into contact with downed power lines until utility crews arrive to fix the problem.
Attacking a utility worker in Michigan is a felony. DTE Energy is asking the public to watch out for utility crews as they work to complete service restoration and to report any suspicious activity to police. Customers who notice an assault in progress are urged not to intervene. Instead, they should call 911.
About 28,000 DTE customers are without power after high winds Tuesday night. DTE said crews are working to get the majority restored by the end of Wednesday.
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