Family mourns death of son struck, killed by lightning in Davie
DAVIE - A grieving family addressed the media Monday afternoon after their son collapsed and died after being struck by lightning while running at a Davie park on Sunday.
Davie police identified the victim as 19-year-old Ethan Lawrence, who died while at Vista View Park on Sunday morning.
Police said Lawrence was running in the park when someone saw him fall on the ground.
Lightning was reported in the area around 10:20 a.m.
According to the Broward County Parks Department, the park does have lightning predictors that activate when lightning may hit. The county said they are 97% accurate.
A park worker confirmed that the alarms went off moments after Lawrence collapsed.
Lawrence was a runner at Jacksonville University and was in the middle of transferring to Nova Southeastern University, where he planned to pursue a law degree.
His parents say they returned to the spot where it happened and found his gold cross.
Lawrence's girlfriend, Andrea Medina, who gave birth to their daughter six months ago, says he was never without the medal.
"He would grab his cross and he would pray for me and his family."
Ethan's dad, Patrick said, "The detectives came over to my car and told me, I don't know if there's an easy way to say this at all. I'm just gonna tell you that unfortunately, your son was running. He was struck by lightning and he didn't make it."
His parents say they returned to the spot where it happened and found his gold cross. Lawrence his girlfriend who gave birth to their daughter six months ago said he was never without his metal.
"My son was amazing. And I don't want his name to die. I want Ethan Lawrence for people to remember his name," said Ethan's mom, Lourdes.
Lawrence was described in a Facebook post as a "beautiful, smart, athletic, wonderful young man" by Sarah Ramsey, a family friend. According to Perry's Facebook post, Lawrence was into running.
"I am blessed and feel honored that I had the opportunity to meet Ethan at the first 5k event I did for Aden. He won!" wrote Perry.
Lawrence's funeral will be held on Monday, July 8 at Potential Church in Cooper City, his family shared with CBS News Miami on Saturday.