The owner of a beach chair rental concession in Daytona Beach is speaking out after he was indirectly struck by lightning over the weekend.
Rodney Collins was out collecting beach chairs in the Silver Beach area when the lightning struck.
The bolt hit a wooden trailer on the beach that was being pulled by an all-terrain vehicle driven by Collins.
He was knocked off the ATV.
“I don’t think we were quite on red light yet, but it was a freak of nature. It immediately hit. I have no memory of it hitting me,” Collins said.
He blacked out for about five minutes, then woke up to paramedics surrounding him.
“I was telling people, you know, just don’t let me die and that type of stuff,” Collins said. “I just kept telling them I couldn’t feel anything below my knees.”
Collins had feeling back in his legs by Monday, but he suffered some injuries to his face from the fall.
Collins’ ATV wasn’t the only thing to take a hit.
A Beach Patrol Jeep was also damaged, but the officer inside is OK.
As for Collins, he said his next step will be to the convenience store.
“Some of my workers, we were joking and said, ‘Well, maybe we ought to give the lottery a try now since you’ve been hit by lightning,’” he said.
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