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3 Family Members Electrocuted By Downed Power Line In Their Backyard

SAN BERNARDINO (AP)— Three people have been electrocuted in the backyard of a San Bernardino home.

Cindy Bachman of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department says the coroner has been called to a home on Acacia Avenue in the Northpark area of the city.

She says three people are dead.

Police Sgt. John Diaz says the deaths were reported at around 5:45 a.m. Friday.

Diaz tells the Riverside Press-Enterprise that the three may have been shocked while investigating the explosion of an electrical transformer.

The coroner has identified the dead as a couple and their son.

Steven Vego, 43, his wife Susan and their 21-year-old son Jonathan Cole were all killed.

Officials believe the downed power line might have started a fire in the backyard and Vego was killed when he went to investigate. Police believe his wife and son were killed trying to help him.

Neighbors told KCAL 9 that this wasn't the first time power lines came down in the area.

Steven Vego's brother, Frank, said power lines fell in the backyard once before. And he angrily asked this morning, "How can this happen a second time?"

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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