Construction worker electrocuted
By AUTUMN C. GIUSTI, Staff Writer

DELAND -- A 28-year-old construction worker died Tuesday morning when he was electrocuted while helping pour concrete, police said. The accident happened at the construction site of the DeLand Dermatology Center at West Plymouth and North Orange avenues at about 11:43 a.m. The worker, William Bryan Miller of Leesburg, was holding a concrete chute at the end of a crane, directing the flow of concrete, when a boom on the crane came in contact with high-voltage power lines overhead, said police spokeswoman Barbara West. The electrical current traveled down the crane boom, through Miller's hands and down to his feet. The shock stopped his heartbeat and his breathing immediately, said EVAC ambulance spokesman Mark O'Keefe. Paramedics attempted unsuccessfully to restart his heart on the way to Florida Hospital-DeLand. He was pronounced dead at 1:08 p.m. Miller had been working on the project with a Eustis-based subcontractor. Co-workers said he left behind a wife and several brothers and sisters. Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the electrocution, but West said it appeared accidental. Co-workers at the site Tuesday evening were not sure who was operating the crane. The construction site was shut down for the remainder of the day.