No injuries in lightning strike

A torrential downpour in Monticello on Sunday, July 26, brought nearly an inch of rain in less than an hour. In most dramatic fashion, the storm marked the apparent beginning of the annual monsoon season.

It also brought several terrific claps of lightning, one of which struck a 14-year-old boy riding a motorcycle.

Whether it was pure luck or the rubber tires of the motorcycle the boy was riding at the time, CJ Forrest suffered no permanent injuries in the incident.

Forrest was riding his motorcycle in the parking lot of the San Juan County Fairgrounds when the storm hit. With his mother, Mailee Forrest, watching, a massive lightning bolt struck CJ while he was mounted on the motorcycle. She reports that her son glowed when the bolt struck.

She screamed in horror, thinking her son would be killed. However, he jumped back on the motorcycle and rode back to his grandparent’s home just east of the fairgrounds.

While Forrest was aware that he had been struck by lightning, he was unable to communicate for several minutes after being struck.

After it became apparent that he was OK, CJ stayed at his grandparents’ home. Later in the afternoon, he went to the San Juan Hospital, where a thorough check revealed he had suffered no permanent injury despite being struck by lightning.

CJ and his family returned home to northern Utah the following day. It will be a Pioneer Day weekend that he and his family will remember for years to come.

CJ is the son of Mailee and Troy Forrest of Tremonton, UT, the grandson of Jimmie and Carol Forrest and the great grandson of Nell Dalton of Monticello.

San Juan Record

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PO Box 879
Monticello, UT 84535

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