ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Gerry Lucas agreed to a television interview, figuring it couldn't be all that scary. It was precisely 24 hours after he was hit by lightning while working at a job site in Waite Park.
"The lightning hit the building and I just saw a big blue light and it kind of felt like someone pushed me and then I kind of stumbled over 10 feet and dropped to my knees," he recalled from his bed at St. Cloud Hospital. "I was, just like, paralyzed. I couldn't move but I could hear what was going on. It was a helluva jolt," he explained.
That buidling he was in was a work shed. Lucas guesses he was about a couple of feet from where the bolt actually landed. He was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
Jerry Lemke was about 500 yards from the site, working inside the concrete building of Power Components, Inc. "Extremely loud crack, it was like a bomb going off. It cracked and it shook the ground," Lemke said.
Lucas says the jolt knocked him to his knees and then he started shaking. He couldn't control his legs for a few moments and he started to feel extremely hot.
Doctors were monitoring his elevated blood pressure a day later and expected to release him late in the afternoon. Lucas says he was still feeling a little weak but hoped to be back on the job Wednesday. He realizes he's pretty lucky.
In 2004, he was wearing a helmet, doing masonary work, when a co-worker accidently dropped a block on his head. His neck was fused. He survived bypass surgery a few years later, and now he's survived a lightning strike.
"You know what they say. Your chances are better at getting hit by lightning than winning the lottery. I would like to prove that I could do both."
Lucas sent his wife home from the hospital, and asked her to buy some lotto tickets.
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