 America in the Morning continues. It's 26 After. He tried to save others, but instead gave his own life. A New Jersey man was warning people on the beach about an incoming storm when he was fatally struck by lightning. Police say 59-year-old Patrick Despoto was at the Seaside Park beach along the Jersey Shore as bad weather was approaching and tried to warn parents and their children to leave. That's when he was struck by lightning.