Picture shows contractors drilled through gas line near JJ's restaurant

Attorneys shared exclusively with the 41 Action News Investigators crucial pictures showing exactly how a crew hit a gas line near JJ's restaurant on Feb. 19.

The picture shows what many involved in the JJ’s explosion investigation have been waiting to see. Crews excavated the area where the gas line was hit and found the bore head had gone completely through the top of the yellow gas line.

“The photographs themselves tell the entire story,” said attorney Grant Davis, who is representing some of the employees of JJ’s injured in the explosion.

The metal part seen in the photograph, Davis said, is the boring rod. The yellow pipe is the gas pipeline. The boring rod is seen going directly through the gas line.

This information makes another photograph, provided by Heartland Midwest, more important. It is the last known picture taken of the area before the explosion and shows the utility markings.

A faint red marking shows the electric line next to a yellow line indicating gas. It also shows the crew dug pot holes to visually spot lines.

An attorney for Heartland Midwest has told the 41 Action News Investigators on previous occasions that the crew spotted a line and measured it at 23 inches.

The crew indicated with the white 37 that they were digging at a depth of 37 inches. That’s also where they stopped drilling, just feet from the corner of JJ’s restaurant.