Man struck trying to videotape lightning: ‘I made possibly the world’s worst decision’

A man says he can’t help but laugh after surviving a lightning strike that hit him while he was standing in the middle of an open field at Green Lake trying to capture the storm on video Saturday.

“I made possibly the world’s worst decision,” Robb Montejano told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “I’m standing there in the middle of an open field, the highest point in a lightning storm, and I’m trying to video it.”

At first, Montejano said he thought the noise was the Blue Angels and made his way out to the center of the field to get a closer look. Then he saw it was actually lightning and the flash was so awesome, he wanted to see if he could capture another on video.

“I’m walking along thinking my family would love to see this, my kids would love it,” he said. “So I just kind of stopped and I waited.”

Montejano began recording the sky on his phone. On the video you can hear him say, “Just on the off chance I can catch lightning on film. In the daytime, it looked really cool. I don’t know if it’s going to happen.”

But it did happen. A brief flash can be seen on the video followed by Montejano’s shout “Oh wow,” and a giant horrifying crash. Montejano had been struck by lightning.

When asked to describe the feeling, Montejano said he once was shocked in high school shop class and it was kind of like that, but all over your body all at once. “It’s like every muscle in your body, it seems like they all go off at once.”

Obviously, Montejano survived the strike and doesn’t appear to have suffered any serious injuries. But he says he’s still feeling the effects.

“Saturday my whole body was tingling and aching, and yesterday my arms and my hands were just hurting, they were on fire. Today they still hurt, but it’s getting better.”

It sounds like he’s also learned a valuable lesson about the dangers of lightning. Walking back across the park to pick up his kids after the first strike, he says he was ducking and weaving under any cover he could find.

“I’m like there’s no way on God’s green earth I’m going back across the field.”

The National Weather Service does recommend that you go indoors if you hear thunder.

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Jason Rantz: I was struck by lightning too!