During a house painting job, the workers' aluminum ladder touches power lines in Belleair.
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published November 15, 2005
BELLEAIR - One worker died and another was injured Monday when the aluminum ladder they were handling touched overhead power lines outside a three-story home, police said.
Electrocuted was Robert D. Rukavina, 53, of Dunedin.
Joseph Ishikawa, 39, of Dunedin was in serious condition Monday night at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Reached by telephone, Eileen Ishikawa said her husband suffered severe burns to his right hand and back.
Ishikawa does not remember anything about the accident and was unaware that Rukavina, his best friend, had died until he was told so at the hospital, Eileen Ishikawa said.
"He was such a wonderful friend to my husband," she said. "He was just a really sweet, sunny person."
Rukavina's family could not be reached late Monday. He owned Finishing Touches of Pinellas, according to state records.
Belleair police had not found anyone who saw the incident, so they couldn't say precisely how it happened, said Officer Jeffrey H. Clark.
Residents said the men had been preparing to paint the exterior of 14 N Pine Circle throughout the day. At 4 p.m., police received a 911 call reporting the injuries.
Bob Walrich, 62, was driving by with his wife and stopped at the sight of the two men sprawled in the lawn.
Rukavina was unconscious on the grass near the end of the ladder. Robert Myers, the owner of the home they were painting, was trying to resuscitate him, Walrich said. Then Walrich's wife, Jean, checked his pulse.
"He was just lying there," he said. "He never made any sound or movement."
Ishikawa, owner of Ishikawa Enterprise Inc., was a few feet away, sitting up and conscious, but apparently disoriented, witnesses said.
"We tried to talk to him, but he didn't make any sense," Walrich said.
Ishikawa's cheeks and arms appeared to have long, thin burn marks, which Walrich thought may have resulted from a fall across the wires.
Rukavina never regained consciousness, witnesses and police said. He was taken to Largo Medical Center and pronounced dead upon arrival, Clark said.
