DA: Zot 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
an hears there are rapidly developing thunderstorms over Manhattan. Man goes to the roof of his apartment building to see lightning. Man sees lightning up close and personal. Gene pool better off. Here is the Times article:
Lightning Victim Atop Building Is Identified
By MARC SANTORA
anhattan man killed by lightning on Friday night was identified yesterday, as meteorologists marveled at the power of the fast-moving thunderstorms that lashed the metropolitan region.
The victim, Nathan Maddox, 25, was watching the light show from the roof of his girlfriend's building on Broome Street on the edge of Chinatown when he was hit at 8:35 p.m., the police said. The bolt appeared to strike him in the head, said a firefighter at the scene. Mr. Maddox was dead on arrival at New York University Downtown Hospital, the police said. His girlfriend was treated and released.
r. Maddox's girlfriend, Jenesee Utley, 24, said that the two of them and another woman had gone up to the roof to see the storm.
"We were dancing in the rain," Ms. Utley said. She said she did not remember the lightning striking, but she remembered waking up on one side of the roof, with Mr. Maddox on the other side.
"When I woke up, I thought I had just hit my head very hard," she said. "But then I saw Nathan on the ground and I crawled over to him. I was screaming, but he didn't respond." She said she knew C.P.R., and tried to administer it, but he did not respond.
r. Maddox was the lead singer of an experimental rock group, Gang-Gang Dance, in Lower Manhattan, she said. He lived on Water Street with members of the band, Ms. Utley said, but spent a lot of time with her. On Friday night, they were supposed to go to a barbecue in Brooklyn, "but he wanted to see the storm come in, to see how beautiful it was," she said.
Lightning struck the ground between 5,000 and 7,000 times across the region, according to the National Weather Service. "This type of event happens once every several years," said Todd Miner, a meteorologist at Penn State University. While it is not uncommon to have clusters of lightning like the ones here Friday night in other parts of the country, he said, "It is rare in New York."
r. Maddox was taking in the view from a roof that, at six stories, was relatively low compared with other buildings nearby, which may have created a false sense of security.
"You don't really get protection from having tall structures around you," said Prof. Philip Krider of the University of Arizona's Institute of Atmospheric Physics.
Submitted on 08/04/2002
Submitted by:
Rob
Reference:
New York Times Aug 4, 2002
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