SEBRING - A boy remained unconscious and in critical condition from a lightning bolt that hit him last week as he helped his uncle fix a roof damaged by Hurricane Charley in Port Charlotte.
Whitfield "Whit" Watson, 15, is being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit in Tampa General Hospital for injuries from the Aug. 18 lightning strike, the News-Sun of Sebring reported Wednesday.
Whit was on the roof when the lightning struck. There was no rain in the area and few clouds in the sky at the time, witnesses said.
The boy's father, Hank Watson, said the strike hit the boy in the back of the head and skipped around his chest, missing his heart and lungs, before exiting out his left foot. Burn marks on the skin traced the path. The boy's left shoe was shredded.
