A New Jersey public works employee was struck by lightning and left without a pulse Wednesday — until a nearby cop rushed over and likely saved his life.
Woodbridge town employee Eric Baumgartner, 39, was repainting lines on the soccer field at Iselin Middle School when a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck him at around 12:30 p.m., officials told reporters at the scene.
Neighbors told local stations that they saw the bright bolt and then witnessed a man laying flat on the ground of the field.
“It was like a bomb, a huge bomb,” Iselin resident Jay Heday told ABC7. “Then out of the window I saw the guy go down, flat on the floor.”
Baumgartner’s coworkers called 911 and a Woodbridge police officer, Robert “RJ” McPartland, assigned to the nearby JFK High School arrived in minutes.
He found the 18-year veteran employee of the Woodbridge DPW and Parks Division unresponsive on the ground.
Baumgartner had no pulse and his hands were burned, McPartland told reporters. The cop’s former EMT training kicked in and he immediately began chest compressions.
“We were able to see some burn marks appeared on his hands, so that was how we were able to determine what happened. And we knew we needed to start compressions to get his heart started again,” McPartland said, according to CBS News.
Other first responders arrived and put Baumgartner into an ambulance where they were finally able to get a pulse.
“Once we are in the ambulance and he did get a pulse back he did slowly begin to gain consciousness while he was still on scene,” McPartland said. “He wasn’t talking yet. But he was starting to move his limbs and wake up a little bit.”
The public works employee and married dad of two boys was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University in Hospital in New Brunswick.
Baumgartner is listed in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery, according to ABC7.
“As of right now, I have every reason to believe R.J. McPartland saved Eric Baumgartner’s life,” Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick said. “And I can’t be prouder of the job that our police officers do.”