Work crews discovered a man's body lying near a utility pole along Interstate 70 on Indianapolis' west side on Wednesday, Indiana State Police said. First responders arrived to find an unresponsive adult male partially inside the pole's access panel, and investigators said the man appeared to have been attempting to take copper wire from inside the INDOT-owned pole when he was killed.
Cutting Tool Found, Coroner Yet To Confirm Cause
According to WTHR, the man reportedly had a cutting tool in his hands when his body was found, and Indiana State Police said his hands showed signs of electrocution. The Marion County Coroner's Office will determine his exact cause of death, and state police said the investigation remains ongoing, with no additional details released as of the station's report.
State Law Treats Copper Theft From Utilities As A Felony
Under Indiana law, stealing valuable metal such as copper wire from a public utility or transportation safety system can be elevated to a Level 5 felony — punishable by up to six years in prison — when the absence of that property creates a substantial risk of bodily injury, according to FindLaw's summary of Indiana Code § 35-43-4-2. State law also requires scrap yards to record a seller's government-issued photo identification, personal details and photograph during valuable metal transactions, under Indiana Code Title 25 Article 37.5, as outlined by Justia Law.
Lawmakers have also tried to close gaps in that system. During the 2026 legislative session, the Indiana General Assembly considered Senate Bill 271, which would tighten regulations on valuable metal dealers and create a Level 6 felony for dealers who knowingly purchase stolen valuable metals, according to LegiScan.
Part Of A Pattern Across Indiana's Utility Grid
Wednesday's death came just two days after two people were arrested in Evansville on Monday for allegedly stealing about 100 pounds of copper wire from utility sites operated by CenterPoint Energy, the same outlet reports. The Indiana Department of Transportation and Indiana State Police have separately warned about recurring copper wire thefts from highway light poles, noting that stolen wiring leaves stretches of interstate dark and can cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace per incident, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana.
National electrical safety data compiled by consumer safety groups show that nearly 400 Americans die from electrocution each year, with utility pole access panels and high-voltage lines posing severe hazards when live circuits are touched, per Indiana Electric Cooperatives. Similar cases have surfaced elsewhere on the interstate system: Hoodline previously reported on two men arrested in Tennessee for cutting copper wiring from overhead signs along Interstate 24 in July, a theft investigators said caused about $10,000 in infrastructure damage to yield roughly $1,500 in scrap value.
A Vital, And Vulnerable, Commuter Corridor
The stretch of I-70 where the man died is a heavily traveled commuter and freight corridor linking downtown Indianapolis to Indianapolis International Airport and the western suburbs, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal, making functional highway lighting significant for nighttime traffic safety along the route.
The problem isn't confined to Indiana. Los Angeles saw a 650% surge in copper wire theft from its streetlight network between 2018 and 2022, according to Route Fifty, prompting public works agencies there to reinforce access panels with concrete and steel or shift to solar lighting altogether.
