A shocking video shows a Florida teenager writhing in pain after being struck by lightning while mowing the grass this week, unable to scream for help.
Daniel Sharkey, 17, was mowing a neighbor’s lawn in Seminole County outside Orlando on Monday afternoon when he noticed ominous clouds rolling in in the distance. He told News 6.
He figured there was plenty of time before the storm arrived.
“It was just a few minutes because I was just trying to tidy up before I went out,” he told media from his hospital bed.
“It felt like we had about 10 to 20 minutes before it all started, and then it was like, ‘Bang!'”
Sharkey said the lightning strike knocked him unconscious, and he woke up a short time later on the ground, unable to move or scream for help.
Security camera footage from the aftermath of the crash showed the boy lying in pain on the sidewalk with lawn equipment beside him as neighbours ran to his aid.
“The next thing I knew I was lying face down in a puddle and I tried to scream but I couldn’t,” he said. “I just rolled around and waited for someone to find me. It only took a few seconds but it felt like an eternity.”
He said when he regained consciousness he didn’t even know what had happened.
“When I first regained consciousness I thought I’d passed out from the heat or something, but then I thought, ‘something’s wrong. Everything hurts’. I had no feeling in my hands or feet. I couldn’t speak,” Sharkey said.
His family provided photos showing the scars left by the lightning strike on his arm.
Sharkey is known locally for his annual charity event, “Cans Over Candy.” Collect canned goods Items collected by neighbors on Halloween for the local food bank.
