Pittsburgh Soldier's Electrocution In Iraq Investigated

POSTED: 5:12 pm EDT March 19, 2008
UPDATED: 5:25 pm EDT March 19, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- A U.S. House committee chairman has begun an investigation into the accidental electrocutions of at least 12 service members in Iraq.

Included in those cases is Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Shaler native who took a jolt of electricity while showering in January and died from cardiac arrest, according to the Army.

Henry Waxman, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said an Army investigation found Maseth's death was due to improper grounding of the electric pump that supplied water to the building.

Waxman has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to hand over all documents relating to the military's management of electrical systems in Iraq.

Maseth, a career soldier, was stationed in Baghdad with the Green Berets.

Shortly after he died, his father told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that the family was having trouble dealing with the news.

"I could see if he was out on a mission and got shot. That would be OK for me," Doug Maseth said in early January. "But to be electrocuted in the shower, how can that be justified? I don't know."

The investigation was sought by Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless.

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