By Bonnie Culverhouse

A 29-year-old Minden man is blessed to be alive after Mother Nature took a swing at him that could have struck him out.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, B.J. (Bernard Jr.) Brown was in intensive care at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport after he was struck by lightning Tuesday evening.

“I feel good,” B.J. said Wednesday around 4 p.m.

“I don’t remember anything,” he said. 

A Brown family member said B.J. was leaving his mother’s house when lightning “just struck.”

“It knocked him unconscious,” they said. “He went to Minden Medical and they got him stabilized and he’s at LSU now.”

The family doesn’t know exactly where the lightning struck B.J.

“I just know his socks were burned; it knocked his shoes off and his cap off his head,” they said. The lightning also struck a tree, and they said it’s possible it hit the tree and traveled underground to reach B.J.

“It happened so quick, we just thank the Lord he’s still alive,” they said.

B.J. said he was told he awakened while he was at Minden Medical Center.

“I remember coming out of the house,” he said. “I was going to get something to eat for my son. That’s the last thing I remember.”

So, why didn’t the family know where B.J. was struck?

“He had no injuries,” they said. “None … just a bruise and we’re not sure if that’s where it struck him or that’s a bruise from him falling down. It threw him – it knocked him over.”

B.J. said he is not in any pain.

“Just my legs are kind of weak,” he said. 

The family says B.J. is in ICU mostly for observation. He said he’s had a lot of people calling to check on him and coming to see him. “I just try to get me a nap whenever I can.”

When people tell B.J. he was struck by lightning, he said he’s a little confused.
“Just not knowing it happened or what’s going on,” he admitted. “I was out.”

Doctors are unsure when he would be released. “Hopefully some time tomorrow (Thursday),” B.J. said.