Truck driver fatally struck by lightning while working on his broken-down truck in Ohio

A truck driver was killed by a lightning strike earlier this month after his truck broke down during a severe storm in Ohio.

Pennsylvania-based truck driver Daryl R. Lewis, 50, lost his life on Wednesday, July 7, 2022.

On July 6, Lewis was traveling on I-75 near Sidney, Ohio, when his trip was stopped by a mechanical issue.

Daryl Lewis’s wife Tanya Lewis told WTAE, “The universal bolt busted off of the drive shaft, he was going to put it back on so he could finish his route.”

As Lewis was outside working on the truck, he was struck by lightning.

A trooper from the Ohio State Patrol and the Sidney Fire Department responded to the scene to render aid.

Lewis was taken to a nearby hospital but passed away from his injuries the next day. A coroner confirmed that a lightning strike was the cause of death.

“The doctors said in their time, they haven’t seen it before. Especially, it hit direct, normally it would bounce off of something,” Tanya Lewis said.

NewsObserver reports that Lewis’s ten year old was on the truck with him when the fatal accident occurred. Lewis was a father to 15 children, according to reports.

Lewis’s obituary states that he drove for Walshak Trucking out of Pittsburgh.