NJ beachgoer Patrick Dispoto dies trying to get kids off beach ahead of lightning storm
NY Post
A visitor was fatally struck by lightning on a Jersey Shore beach Sunday after he heroically returned to warn a group of children playing in the water of an impending storm.
Patrick Dispoto, 59, had just left the J Street Beach at Seaside Park in Ocean County with his girlfriend, Ruth Fussell, around 7 p.m. when he noticed the ominous clouds quickly approaching, according to News 12 New Jersey.
Dispoto, from Toms River, became increasingly concerned for the children’s safety, since the lifeguards had already left for the day.
“He said, ‘I’ll be right back.’ I said, ‘You have no business going back,'” Fussell told the outlet about her final conversation with her boyfriend.
“He says, ‘I’m just going to warn these kids because the sky is going to open. I’m just going to warn these kids, one minute.’ I said, ‘No.'”
The heartbroken girlfriend said Dispoto first got her to safety before he ventured back over to the beach to warn the others.
