DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - A lightning strike near the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue headquarters in Doral sent an off-duty Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputy to the hospital.
According to MDSO, first responders arrived after receiving reports of a vehicle being struck by lightning outside of the building, just before 5:15 p.m. on Thursday.
Investigators said the deputy was sitting inside his cruiser while working an off-duty assignment near the MDFR building along Northwest 41st Street, near 93rd Avenue, when lightning struck his vehicle as storms blanketed the area.
Traffic cameras on the Turnpike showed an MDFR ambulance racing down the expressway with multiple MDSO cruisers following behind with flashing lights.
Paramedics transported the victim as a trauma alert to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.
7News cameras captured several MDSO deputies parked at the emergency room in a show of support for their fellow law enforcement officer.
This incident is just the latest in a series of strikes.
Charter captain Richard Stanczyk of Stanz Fishing was struck Aug. 20 while in a boat off Islamorada in the Florida Keys.
Three days later, 31-year-old Kenya Glasgow and her 2-year-old daughter were killed when they, too, were struck by lightning while getting out of an SUV in a Margate neighborhood.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesperson Erika Benitez offered a word of advice about where to seek shelter during a thunderstorm.
“There truly is no safe place outdoors when lightning is nearby. The safest place is inside a building or a fully enclosed hard top vehicle,” she said.
But as the off-duty deputy in Thursday’s incident found out, lightning strikes can still injure occupants in a closed vehicle.
Investigators said the deputy is listed in stable condition but have not provided further information about any injuries he may have suffered.
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