Lightning Strikes Once, Disabling Pleasant Hill Pickup Truck

Bay City News Service

A pickup truck was hit by lightning at a Pleasant Hill intersection Thursday afternoon but no one inside was injured, a police sergeant said.

Police got a call a little after 2 p.m. from someone reporting that a vehicle had been struck by lightning at Boyd Road and Contra Costa Boulevard, police Sgt. Gary Brown said.

"When we arrived there was a vehicle that was disabled," Brown said. "We later found that the wiring in it was fried, consistent with being hit by lightning."

The traffic signals at the intersection were jammed, with the red, yellow and green lights all lit up simultaneously, he said. Brown said the driver of the gold-colored pickup seemed to have figured out what had happened right away.

"He felt something and he saw the signals go steady, and everything in the vehicle just died, so he pretty much had an idea, and he could hear the thunder," Brown said.

The driver had left the scene as of 3 p.m. Brown said he did not have any injuries.

"He probably was a little rattled," Brown said. "When you have something like that happen it's an eye-opener."