Good Samaritan re-counts desperate attempt to save woman struck by lightning
A Good Samaritan has recounted the moment he rushed to try and save a woman killed by lightning in Melbourne's east.
Brandon Cleine didn't know Lauren Brownlee or her boyfriend Ben Hollow, but a chance encounter on Friday night has forever linked the trio.
Mr Brandon was driving his sister home on Friday during a violent electrical storm, when they were flagged down by another driver at Chirnside Park, just metres from her house.
In a freak accident, the couple was struck by lightning as they pulled over on the side of the road to watch the storm.
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Ms Brownlee, 25, went in to cardiac arrest, while Mr Hollow, 23, suffered burns to his legs.
Without thinking, Mr Cleine rushed to the couple’s aid by calling Triple-0 before performing CPR on the young woman, but tragically he could not save her.
“I just wish she survived. Would have made it so much easier,” Mr Cleine told 7 News.
“As I got to about here, I noticed there was a guy lying in the middle of the road and a car stopped off and a guy kinda waving his hands down saying ‘Don’t go, don’t go’.
“I was just hoping that she stayed alive… And I was just screaming at the lady on the phone like ‘Please just get emergency services here as quick as possible. These guys are in desperate need’,” he recounted.
“It’s tragic. I can still picture her lying on the ground, I can still see Ben lying on the ground. I can still see her face. I’ll never get that face out of my mind.”
Friends and family are raising money for Ms Brownlee’s funeral - a reality her partner struggles to accept.
As part of his own healing, Mr Cleine hopes to visit Mr Hollow at the Alfred Hospital where he is recovering from surgery to both his legs, as he comes to terms with the loss of his partner.
