Surveillance video shows man being struck by lightning before he's saved by good Samaritans
Surveillance video obtained by Houston ABC station KTRK shows the moment a man was struck by lightning Thursday -- seconds before three good Samaritans rushed to his aid and saved his life.
Alex Coreas was walking his three dogs near the Stuebner Airline Veterinary Hospital in Spring, Texas, when a lightning bolt knocked him off his feet and sent the dogs scurrying, KTRK reported.
Video from a security camera outside the veterinary clinic shows the lightning bolt producing a giant spark at Coreas' feet, after which he falls to the ground.
Two staffers at the clinic told KTRK that they immediately saw that Careas needed aid.
"I started running through the hospital because someone was like, 'We need help with CPR,'" clinic worker Christy Mittler told the station.
When she and two other good Samaritans reached Coreas, he wasn't breathing, his clothes were charred and "his shoes and his socks got blown off his feet," Mittler said.
Mittler said that she, her colleague and a third person administered CPR until they could feel a pulse.
"We rolled him over and we were sweeping out his stuff," Mittler said. "We were knocking him on his back, telling him, 'It's OK. You got hit by lightning.'"
Coreas' family told KTRK that he's recovering at a local hospital, where's he's in pain but is expected to be OK.
After the lightning strike, police deputies retrieved Coreas' dogs from a nearby wooded area.
The lightning strike left a gaping hole in the concrete where he and his dogs were walking, reported KTRK.
