Worker Electrocuted, Another Hurt On Football Field Of Mission Viejo High School
MISSION VIEJO (CBSLA.com) — Emergency responders were called Thursday to the football field of Mission Viejo High School, where a construction worker had been electrocuted and another seriously injured.
The two workers were standing on scaffolding to hang a banner for a Mission Viejo booster club in preparation for a school event when the accident occurred around 3 p.m.
One of them -- a man in his 20s -- was declared dead at the scene. The other was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
The victims haven't been identified.
KCAL9's Stacey Butler reported from the scene Thursday evening where she spoke to witnesses to the tragedy.
"All of a sudden one of my players yelled call 911," says baseball coach Justin Napora.
When he saw the man collapse on the scaffold he and another coach ran to help.
"It was pretty much the most awful thing I've ever seen," he said.
Napora watched as the man's co-worker tried to administer CPR. Napora says his fellow coach knelt down to help.
That's when he says they saw the other worker stand up and get shocked right next to the man who had been electrocuted.
"The co-workers neck hit the electrical wire and electricity and flames shot through his hand and his hip," Napora said, "and then he just went limp like a rag doll."
A spokesperson with the Orange County Fire Authority said the co-worker was badly burned and then fell 25 feet to the ground.
Napora said his entire freshmen baseball team watched the incident in horror.
"And a lot of them, their jaws went to the ground," Napora said.
Steve Concialdi, a spokesperson for the Orange County Fire Authority, hopes there is a lesson learned in the tragedy.
"We always recommend people stay clear of all electrical lines. There is so much current going through there, and electricity going through there. If you touch them, it could lead to death like in this case," Concialdi said.
