Watertown teen dies after being hit by lightning

By STEVE BENTON ( Contact ) Tuesday, July 8, 2008

WATERTOWN, Wis. — A teenage boy struck by lightning when severe storms moved through Wisconsin on Monday has died at a Watertown hospital.

Sixteen-year-old Ben Richter was struck at his family’s farm in the Town of Watertown about 8:30 p.m. He was taken by ambulance to Watertown Memorial Hospital.

Watertown Memorial spokeswoman Jacklynn Lesniak says Richter died early Tuesday after suffering a direct hit by lightning.

The boy’s family issued a statement saying he was a “terrific son and brother” and was a high honor student and a three sport athlete at Watertown High School.

Before you post a comment, consider this:

Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy Agreement

Keep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also.
Don't threaten to hurt or kill anyone.
Be nice. No racism, sexism or any other sort of -ism that degrades another person.
Harassing comments. If you are the subject of a harassing comment or personal attack by another user, do not respond in-kind. Hit the "Suggest Removal" button on offensive comments.
Share what you know. Give us your eyewitness accounts, background, observations and history.
Do not libel anyone. Libel is writing something false about someone that damages that person's reputation.
Ask questions. What more do you want to know about the story?
Stay focused. Keep on the story's topic.
Help us get it right. If you spot a factual error or misspelling, email newsroom@gazettextra.com or call 1-800-362-6712.
Remember, this is our site. We set the rules, and we reserve the right to remove any comments that we deem inappropriate.

Post Comment

Commenting requires registration.

News:

Opinion:

Blogs | Columns | Political Cartoons | What You Think | Polls

Sports:

Multimedia:

Community:

Births | Couples | Obituaries | Death Notices

Blogs

Blog List | Latest Blog Entries

Services:

Copyright ©2007 Bliss Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Use of this material and this site are subject to the GazetteExtra Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Content may not be published, broadcast, re-distributed or re-written.