By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A man lost his live after being struck by lightning on a New Jersey beach while trying to warn other beachgoers of an incoming storm.
Stonix News reliably gathered that 59-year-old Patrick Dispoto was at Seaside Park Beach with his girlfriend but returned to his truck when they realized a storm was approaching.
According to Police Sgt. Andrew Casole, his girlfriend told police she waited in the truck while Dispoto went back to the beach to warn others that a storm was coming.
Ruth Fussell, Dispoto’s girlfriend, told CNN that she wants people to know that he always tried to make other people’s lives easier:
“He said, ‘I’ll be right back.’ I said, ‘You have no business going back.’ And he says, ‘I’m just going to warn these kids because the sky is going to open. I’m just going to warn these kids. one minute.’ I said, ‘No,’” Ruth Fussell, who identified herself as Dispoto’s girlfriend, told CNN’s affiliate WABC.
Fussell said she called Dispoto three times but he didn’t respond, and she waited about 15 minutes for his return.
She eventually went back to the beach where she found Dispoto unconscious.
Emergency responders performed CPR on Dispoto and he was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
Dispoto died by an “accidental death caused by lightning strike,” Casole said.
Days after Dispoto’s death, Seaside Park installed a lightning warning system.
Seaside Park Borough Administrator Karen Kroon, on Wednesday, told CNN that in April, Seaside Park officials purchased the Strike Guard Lightning Detection System, an investment of nearly $50,000.
The system provides lightning warnings by monitoring cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes within a radius set by the user of up to 20 miles, according to the company’s website.
Kroon said the installation, which had been in preparation for months, was scheduled to take place Wednesday.
Kroon emphasized that the installation was not in response to the tragedy on Sunday.
“The Borough made that investment because public safety is extremely important and we want to do everything we can to alert our residents and visitors to imminent danger,” Kroon said.
Fussell told WABC that Dispoto never passed up an opportunity to make someone’s life easier and that’s what she wants people to know:
“So, his last act of heroism was his ultimate, and that’s my Patrick Dispoto.”
What's your reaction?
