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It knocked his socks off — literally.
A Louisiana man was knocked unconscious and had his shoes thrown off by a lightning strike this week — but insisted that he feels “good” despite the shock to the system.
Bernard “BJ” Brown Jr., 29, is believed to have been hit by a bolt outside his mother’s Minden home on Tuesday evening, KTBS3 reported.
“What I was told is when I was coming out the house and walking back to the car like the lightning, all of it hit it at the same time — the house, a tree and I guess me, too, at the same time,” Brown told KSLA two days later.
Brown said he had no memory of the incident, but could still feel the physical effects.
“I was confused, just trying to figure everything out. I was, my whole body is still sore, mainly in my backs and legs,” he explained.
“I feel good,” he added. “Just my legs are kind of weak.”
Brown’s family members were concerned when they found him unconscious on the lawn moments after the storm moved through.
“It knocked him unconscious,” a relative told KTBS3.
“I just know his socks were burned; it knocked his shoes off and his cap off his head,” they said.
The lightning also struck a nearby tree, and the family thought the bolt may have hit the tree first and then Brown.
“It happened so quick, we just thank the Lord he’s still alive,” the relative noted.
The lightning also struck a nearby tree, and the family thought the bolt may have hit the tree first and then Brown.
Brown was admitted to Minden Medical Center on Tuesday, and was later transferred to the ICU at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport, KTBS3 said.
Doctors monitored Brown’s heart for blood clots or major damage before releasing him on Thursday.
“He had no injuries. None … just a bruise and we’re not sure if that’s where it struck him or that’s a bruise from him falling down. It threw him – it knocked him over,” the relieved relative said.
During the hospital stay, Brown was beset by phone calls and visits from friends and family.
“I just try to get me a nap whenever I can,” he said of the recovery process.
Brown’s case was lucky — lightning strikes can prove deadly. An average of 43 people in the United States are killed by lightning each year, according to the National Weather Service.
Just last fall, a 16-year-old Florida girl was killed when she and her father were hit by lightning while out hunting.