She tried to fix the A/C in her NC motel room - and got electrocuted, police say

A woman was electrocuted and died on Monday after she touched an air conditioner that began to smoke in a North Carolina motel room, police said.

The woman “tried to reset” the air conditioner in the Economy Inn & Suites off Interstate 95 in Nash County when the unit shocked her, WRAL reported. The motel is on N.C. 48 near Rocky Mount.

The 31-year-old woman went into cardiac arrest after she was shocked, a spokesperson for the city of Rocky Mount told ABC-TV affiliate WTVD. A 7-year-old girl was hospitalized, the station reported. The child’s condition has yet to be released, according to WRAL.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death, WTVD reported.

The death called to mind another incident involving faulty equipment at a North Carolina hotel.

In April 2013, carbon monoxide leaked from a poorly vented pool heater into a room at the Best Western in Boone, The Charlotte Observer reported. Daryl and Shirley Jenkins, a couple in their 70s, died from their exposure. Less than two months later, in the same hotel room, the deadly gas claimed another victim – 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams, according to the Observer.

Following the deaths, Best Western required all of its hotels to install and maintain carbon monoxide detectors in every guest room and all areas where fuel-burning equipment operates, according to the Observer.

Yet in 2017, a Texas couple died months after being exposed to carbon monoxide that leaked from a hotel pool heater at a Best Western in Perryton, Texas, the Observer reported.

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 9:02 PM.