Reporter Sues Energy Company Over Hurricane Harvey Incident That Killed Four

A Daily Mail journalist is suing CenterPoint Energy for “negligence” after being electrocuted in an incident during Hurricane Harvey that killed four people. Alan Butterfield was injured while traveling with a rescue team in a boat that became tangled with CenterPoint’s live power lines. In his lawsuit, which was filed Monday morning, Butterfield said the group could see that there was electricity in the water and tried to turn the boat around, but the electricity shot the engine. Four of the seven people in the boat were killed. Butterfield said in the papers that he was seriously shocked but escaped by exiting the boat and climbing up a tree, where he stayed for almost an entire day. He accused the company of negligence for failing to turn off its power lines. A CenterPoint spokesperson declined to comment to the Houston Chronicle.