REAL ESTATE 2

Mark Mixon was well known to many Island residents through his work as an agent for the family-owned Jim Mixon Insurance Inc.

BY JOE HENDRICKS

SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com

BRADENTON BEACH – Longtime Island resident Mark Mixon died Wednesday evening from an accidental electrical shock he received during Tropical Storm Eta.

According to Det. Sgt. Lenard Diaz, of the Bradenton Beach Police Department, the fatal accident occurred at a home Mixon was working on at 211 Bay Drive N. The police department received the dispatch call at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“The Fire Department and EMS were there. When we got there, a guy came running up to us and said his friend just got electrocuted,” Diaz said that evening.

According to Diaz, Mixon was placing sandbags around the bayside of the Bradenton Beach home before the accident occurred.

“He went inside his storage room,

JOE HENDRICKS | SUN A laundry dryer in this ground-level storage area is believed to be the source of the fatal electrical shock.

which is part of the house and on the ground, and there were approximately 3 inches of water inside the storage room. When he walked inside, he didn’t realize he had an appliance still connected to electricity. He walked inside and he was electrocuted because the appliance was partially in the water,” Diaz said.

Diaz said the storage area contained a washer and dryer and some tools. He later said he believed the dryer to be the source of the electrical shock.

Diaz said Mixon’s friend tried to pull Mixon out of the storage area, but he felt electricity surging through the water and discontinued those efforts and called 911.

“When we got there, we couldn’t walk in until the electricity got turned off, which took approximately 30 minutes. We then brought him out and checked his vital signs and he was deceased,” Diaz said.

When contacted that evening, Manatee County Public Safety Director Jake Saur provided some additional details. He said Manatee County EMS was among those who responded to the 911 call.

“Our 911 center called FPL. This was the first time in my 20 years we’ve had to call FPL and ask them to de-energize a portion of the county. That takes a lot to do and they asked us if we’re sure we want to do this because we could take out power to a lot of other critical things. We’ve never really done that before, but we did it in this case so we could get into that home,” Saur said.

Around that same time, several Bradenton Beach residents noted on Facebook that they had lost power.

When contacted that evening, West Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Ben Rigney confirmed the electrocution. Rigney did not provide the victim’s name but did say the victim’s next of kin was notified of the accident.

SEE ETA, PAGE 5