A trucker dad has died after being struck by lightning, the first recorded fatality of its kind this year.
Married dad Peter Garamone, 41, was walking to his vehicle outside the Kwik Trip gas station in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, late Wednesday when he was struck by what one local called the “loudest thunderbolt” they’d ever heard, CBS58 reported.
The Pennsylvania father of one, who was in Wisconsin hauling goods, managed to call 911 to say he had been struck but was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
“Our caller believes he was possibly struck by lightning,” a dispatcher said in audio obtained by CBS58.
A witness called 911 and reported they were “unsure if he was breathing” following the strike — and cops said the evidence at the parking lot was “consistent with a lightning strike.”
By the time responders got there, the JB Hunt driver was unresponsive. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Beau Snowden, who lives near the gas station, said he could “feel” the bolt go through his entire house.
“It was the loudest thunderbolt we ever heard,” he said. “You got to watch out for these storms. It’s really dangerous.”
Peter leaves behind wife Lisa, 45, and son Peter Jr. He died just a week after his dad Jim, 72, finished chemotherapy and radiation treatment for two types of esophageal cancer.
“I keep hoping I will wake up and find this is a bad dream, but I know it isn’t,” Jim wrote on Facebook, announcing his son’s death.
“This is a lesson to all of us to hug those we love a bit tighter.”
The trucker’s death has been recorded as the first lightning fatality of the year, according to the National Lightning Safety Council revealed, but a formal cause of death hasn’t been established.
Last year, 21 lightning strike fatalities were reported, according to the database.
The odds of being killed by lightning are around one in 1.5 million – and around 90% of lightning victims survive strikes.
