Does a viral video include real courthouse footage covering a $3 million lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died from electrocution while trying to steal "electric copper wire" from a vehicle charging station? No, that's not true: The shot purporting to show "Darius Johnson's" family was real, but was taken from the coverage of an unrelated case. Other scenes in the video show signs of AI generation. Lead Stories found a 2010 news report documenting what was described as death by electrocution during a suspected theft, but the name of the deceased man was not Darius Johnson and the scene of the crime was not an EV charging station.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on November 20, 2025. It opened:
F. A. F. O. Ends in electrocution of thief. Family sues Company for $3M. Judge says NO and that it was Victim's fault. He died while trying to steal electric copper wire.
The video shared in the post began with a female yelling in what appeared to be a courtroom:
He was just trying to steal something, and now you electrocuted him to death! You need to take responsibility for this!
After that, the narrator's voice continued:
A thief was electrocuted while attempting to steal electrical wiring, and now his family is suing the charging company for $3 million. The incident happened late at night in Houston, Texas. Surveillance footage shows 18-year-old Darius Johnson sneaking up to an electric vehicle charging station. He planned to cut out the copper wiring and sell it for cash, but the moment he sawed through the cable's insulation, a powerful surge of electricity shot through his body, lighting up the area for a split second before he collapsed to the ground. It wasn't until the next morning that a janitor discovered his body and called the police. When officers and paramedics arrived, Darius had no signs of life. The coroner's report concluded he died from cardiac arrest caused by a high-voltage electric shock. A few days later, Darius' family filed a lawsuit against the charging station operator, 'Volt Edge Energy', claiming the company failed to take adequate safety precautions and was, therefore, responsible for his death. After reviewing the case, the judge dismissed the lawsuit, stating the operator fulfilled its reasonable safety obligations, the victim knowingly engaged in illegal activity, and his death was the direct result of his own actions. The court ultimately ruled that 'Volt Edge Energy' was not liable, and ordered Darius' family to pay $30,000 in damages for the equipment he destroyed. Do you think the judge's decision was fair? Share your thoughts in the comments.
This is what the thumbnail from the video looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/atensnut)
The watermark "lzxpwgpxtcx" on the video pointed to a specific account on TikTok where the clip was posted earlier, but, as of this writing, that video was not available there:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of the lzxpwgpxtcx account at tiktok.com)
As a reverse image search showed, the claim had been online earlier -- at least since November 6, 2025 (archived here).
A search across Google News yielded no recent media reports about a Darius Johnson family seeking $3 million in damages over an electrocution:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of news search results page at google.com)
A search across court files on PACER, a registry of federal court filings, showed many cases mentioning a party named "Darius Johnson", but only three of those lawsuits took place in Texas in the past three years, and none of them had anything to do with electrocution-related compensation demands:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of PACER search results page)
The composite image below shows the nature of the lawsuits mentioning "Darius Johnson" that were found on PACER for the period of the past three years:
(Source: Lead Stories composite image of Lead Stories screenshots of court files on PACER)
The closest theft-related case involving a person named "Darius Johnson" (archived here), found by Lead Stories, was heard much earlier, in 2018. However, it discussed a robbery of a pizza delivery person, not electrocution or a death-related monetary compensation:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of page at law.justia.com)
A broader search for premature deaths caused by accidental electrocution during attempted theft showed a 2010 news report (archived here) from a Texas-based affiliate of ABC, KLTV. It resembled the story told in the viral video, but the name of the deceased person did not match the viral video and the site was not an EV charging station. Here is what the report said:
'The very first 9-1-1 call came in over the radio literally said the recording said his friend had been electrocuted,' said Sheriff Darrel Bobbitt, Houston County.
The caller claimed he and his cousin were rabbit hunting.
'Happened to be in the area and got electrocuted,' said Bobbitt.
When deputies and paramedics arrived on the scene, they say it was obvious - rabbit hunting had not caused this.
'Appeared he had been electrocuted while they were trying to steal copper from the oil well site,' said Bobbitt.
There was nothing to support the hunting story, but deputies say there was plenty of evidence of a crime.
'They began to see wire that had been pulled from the ground at this site,' said Bobbitt.
The attempted copper theft incident happened on Houston County Road 3575. The Sheriff's Office say that the two men had been to two other oilfield sites stealing copper before they were stopped.
Ronnie Sigford, Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene. His cousin Billy Estell, Jr. was arrested and charged with felony theft.
A search across Google News for those names did not show any media coverage of the purported compensation lawsuit, either:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of news search results page at google.com)
The video from the post reviewed in this fact check contained several discrepancies pointing to the presence of some digital manipulation. For example, while the clip mentioned one judge who was said to have dismissed the case, the video showed three different people presiding in the courtroom:
(Sources: Lead Stories screenshots of post at x.com/atensnut)
Furthermore, a reverse image search of the first opening shot of a screaming woman standing next to a man in a gray t-shirt led to a 2019 Mirror article (archived here) published under the title:
Sons of murder victim attack their mum's killer in dramatic court room brawl.
The caption under the photo attributed to Reuters clearly stated who the depicted people were:
Members of the public yell out as the confrontation continues.
A reverse image search of the "stealing scene" showed no matches other than posts on social media:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of reverse image search results on google.com)
