A New Jersey police officer revived a man who was struck by lightning Wednesday.
Eric Baumgartner, a local parks department employee, was repainting the lines on a practice soccer field near Iselin Middle School in Woodbridge Township around noon when he was struck by lightning, Fox 5 New York reported. (RELATED: Lightning Strike Appears To Kill Boat Captain, Passenger Injured)
WOW! ⚡ A town employee was struck by lightning on a soccer field in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey.
The worker didn’t have a pulse when a local police officer arrived on the scene, but cops used an AED and were thankfully able to revive the man. pic.twitter.com/n4XeTPgPpY
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) June 14, 2023
Local police arrived at the scene, and Officer Robert McPartland began to perform CPR on Baumgartner. Although the victim initially had no pulse, McPartland was able to successfully revive him, according to Fox 5 New York.
Baumgartner was then taken to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital and is reportedly alert and aware, per the outlet.
Lightning strikes are the leading cause of storm-related deaths in the United States, according to the National Weather Service.
About 10 percent of people who are struck by lightning are killed, while the other 90 percent survive with varying degrees of brain damage, the NSW states.