Police identify 19-year-old who died after possible lightning strike at Davie park
DAVIE - Authorities identified this Monday a man who collapsed and died possibly after being struck by lightning while walking on 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 walking in the park when someone saw him fall on the ground.
Lightning was 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.
Ethan 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 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, 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."
