The power poles that line Brazoria's West Elm Street sit along drainage ditches. At the base, neighbors say, some seem to be rotting which is what police believe caused one to topple Thursday morning, and it happened to fall on a nine-year-old boy riding a bike.

That boy is Clarence Pye's nephew.

"It was it was it was for a telephone pole to come down on a little nine year old."

Ratio Harris is from Lake Jackson and was visiting his grandparents, biking along a street his relatives say he knows well.

A crew from Texas New Mexico Power and Light hauled the old pole away just hours after the accident. A company spokesman says a crew was working on the pole using a ladder, disconnecting power to a nearby home, when it tumbled.

"Apparently the only thing holding it up still was the power cable and when it let up it just fell,” said Officer Cory Williams of the Brazoria Police Department.

Emergency crews rushed Harris to Memorial Hermann hospital. His mother came in from Lake Jackson to be at his side. Police say just after the pole struck him - he seemed to be in relatively good shape, considering.

"He was very talkative, like a little nine year old, wanted his mom,” said Williams.

Now, neighbors wonder about the other power poles here, especially after the recent heavy rains.