A New Jersey cop miraculously revived a man who was struck by lightning on Wednesday.
Woodbridge Township parks employee Eric Baumgartner was painting lines on a city owned soccer field on Wednesday afternoon when he was struck by lightning.
Despite noticing a storm coming in, Baumgartner, who has worked for the township for 18 years, wanted to finish before the rain started, and instead almost lost his life.
The incident was caught on a video by a doorbell camera and witnessed by onlookers.
One person said that the lightning struck “like a bomb,” and when they looked out the window, saw the bolt of electricity hit Baumgartner in the middle of the field.
Another witness said that they called police when they saw the father of two “lying flat on the ground” and not moving.
Police Officer R.J. McPartland, a former firefighters and certified EMT, was finishing up his shift at the local high school when he responded to the call.
He immediately began CPR when he reached Baumgartner and could tell that he had no pulse.
“We were able to see some burn marks appeared on his hands, so that was how we were able to determine what happened. And we knew we needed to start compressions to get his heart started again,” McPartland told CBS News.
“We were trying to talk to him the whole time. Once we were in the ambulance and did he get a pulse back, he did slowly begin to regain consciousness.”
The were able to transport him to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, where he is reportedly in stable condition.
Baumgartner’s friend Ray Deliman reported that he was struck in one foot and the electricity came out of the other.
He also disclosed that his buddy has “no idea what happened,” and only remembers doing his job, then waking up in an ambulance.
“I think it’s amazing. You hear stories, guy survived by lightning and stuff like that, but you never know until it’s your turn,” Deliman said.
“We just hope he pulls through. We need him here, he’s a good guy.”
McPartland doesn’t believe his actions are heroic, just part of his job as a law enforcement.
“It’s what we’re trained to do,” he commented. “Luckily, we are trained in that and were able to provide that to someone who needs it.”
An Irish woman also astonishingly survived being struck by lightning this week, while she was standing inside her kitchen during a storm on Tuesday.
Caroline Blake said it felt like there had been a “massive explosion” and she could smell burning after lightning hit her while she was holding a spoon at her sink.
When she set down the utensil, “sparks came out of it.”
“It kind of set me back a bit on my feet and I became a bit disoriented and didn’t know what was happening. I could hear all this, you know, like electricity. I could hear the buzzing of all this electricity,” she told a local radio station.
Blake was alone at the time, but managed to phone her husband. “The storm became very intense at that stage and I was worried,” she recalled. “I didn’t want any of them driving because of what happened to me.”
Once her family took her to get medical attention, the doctor said that her life was spared by the rubber-soled shoes she was wearing at the time.
“I had my runners on. So I said that’s what saved me and the doctor even told me that would save you, you know, so I was so happy,” Blake remarked.
Her stay at the local hospital was surprisingly short. “They kept me in for a few hours and everything was okay and they gave me a few tablets,” she reported.
Blake said the next day it felt like she had a hangover, and suffered burns on her wrist and a sore eye.
“That’s the only way I can explain it, just a bad headache,” she commented.
