It literally knocked his socks off.
This week, a Louisiana man was knocked unconscious by lightning and lost his shoes, but insisted he was “feeling fine” despite the shock to his system.
Bernard “BJ” Brown Jr., 29, is believed to have been struck by a bolt outside his mother’s Minden home Tuesday evening. KTBS3 reported.
“What I was told is that as I walked out of the house and walked like lightning back to my car, all the impacts happened at the same time. It hit the house, the tree, and probably me at the same time. I think it’s brown. told KSLA 2 days later.
Brown said she had no recollection of the incident but was still feeling the physical effects.
“I was confused and just trying to make sense of everything. My whole body still hurts, mainly my back and legs,” he explained.
“I feel good,” he added. “My legs are a little weak.”
Brown’s family became concerned when they found him unconscious on the lawn shortly after the storm.
“The impact caused him to lose consciousness,” a relative told KTBS3.
“All I know is that his socks were burnt. His shoes fell off and his hat fell off his head,” they said.
The lightning also struck a nearby tree, leading the family to believe that the lightning had struck the tree first and then Mr. Brown.
“It all happened so fast. We are just thankful to the Lord that he is still alive,” a relative said.
Brown was admitted to Minden Medical Center on Tuesday and then transferred to Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport’s ICU, KTBS3 reported.
Doctors monitored Brown’s heart for blood clots or major damage before releasing him Thursday.
“He didn’t have any injuries. Nothing… just a bruise, I don’t know if that’s where I hit him or if it was a bruise from the fall. It threw him off and knocked him over. ” said a relieved relative.
While in the hospital, Brown was plagued by calls and visits from friends and family.
“I try to nap as much as possible,” he said of his recovery process.
Brown was lucky. Lightning strikes can be fatal. An average of 43 people are killed by lightning each year in the United States. According to the National Weather Service.
Just last fall, a 16-year-old Florida girl was struck and killed by lightning while hunting with her father.
“Whenever there is a thunderstorm going on around you, [it] “It’s always a good idea to monitor the weather to know how close a thunderstorm is and to seek shelter when a thunderstorm approaches,” Ryan Knapp, a meteorologist with the NWS in Shreveport, told KSLA told.
