Local

Boy, 15, on close call with lightning; ‘I'm one lucky guy'

LISBON, Ohio — Channel 11's Amy Marcinkiewicz traveled to Lisbon, Ohio, Thursday to talk with a boy who is lucky to be unharmed after a close call Wednesday with a lightning strike.

Marcus Nenichka told Marcinkiewicz that he was touching an air conditioner when lightning struck his house. The 15-year-old said he got the jolt of his life while turning off the window air-conditioning unit.

“I’m one lucky guy,” he said.

The lightning hit the home’s antenna on the roof, traveled down the side of the home and into the air conditioner. Marcus and the air conditioner went flying.

“The next thing I knew, Marcus was flying backward and there was a burning smell in the air. He was scared,” Nenichka’s mother, Casey Reynolds, said.

Marcus said it took him a few minutes to recover, but then he told his mother he felt fine.

“It’s amazing he survived this and still wanted to go out afterward,” Reynolds said.

Marcus went to the hospital to be checked out, and there were no marks on his body.