Lightning blamed for boys' trauma

No one saw a bolt hit the young men, but doctors say their injuries are like those of strike victims.

By LOGAN NEILL, Times Staff Writer
Published September 19, 2007

WEEKI WACHEE- Anne Thetard remembers seeing the young men frolicking in the water, laughing and horsing around like teens do. The next moment, they were gone from sight.

Like a proverbial bolt from the blue, brothers Tommy and Kevin Wohnsen vanished Sunday afternoon beneath the darkened waters of the Weeki Wachee River near Rogers Park.

Thetard, who was returning from a boating trip with her husband, Dan, didn't see a lightning strike, but authorities believe that some kind of jolt caused the brothers to go into cardiac arrest.

Tommy, 19, and Kevin, 18, both from Spring Hill, were resuscitated by Hernando County Fire Rescue paramedics and airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital. The hospital would not release their condition Tuesday, and attempts to reach family members were unsuccessful.

Authorities said a third brother, Jackie Wohnsen, 27, was with the other two boys, but was not injured.

Thetard, who lives about 200 yards from the park, said that shortly after passing the Wohnsens on the way to their dock her husband noticed that neither had surfaced. Dan Thetard, 55, dove into the water with another neighbor and brought the brothers to the surface. On the dock, both men attempted CPR, assisted by other neighbors.

"It happened so fast," said Thetard. "Nobody really had time to think."

Blake Harding, a neighbor of the Thetards, said he had heard cries for help just moments before the boys disappeared from sight.

"I thought they were just clowning around like kids do," said Harding, who said CPR was begun less than 30 seconds after the pair were brought to the surface.

Hernando County Fire Rescue assistant chief Frank DeFrancesco said that although no one in the vicinity reported seeing lightning, he was told by doctors that both victims had injuries consistent with a lightning strike.

Anne Thetard said the area of the Weeki Wachee River near her home has become an attractive area for young people since the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission closed the popular "bluffs" swimming area inside the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in April.

"Kids are always out here on weekends," said Thetard. "What concerns me is that it's so dangerous. Most of the time they're swimming right where most of the boats are going through."

Logan Neill can be reached at 848-1435 or lneill@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 18, 2007, 22:22:14]