= Solution
\b[A direct lightning strike is unnecessary.] A nearby strike can produce a <ground current>, putting the feet at different <electric potentials> and driving current through the body by a <step voltage>. A side flash from a struck object or conduction along a contacted conductor also provides an indirect current path.<Lightning Science: Five Ways Lightning Strikes People by the National Weather Service>[“Ground Current”, “Side Flash” and “Conduction”: indirect electrical exposure]{ref}
Rapid air heating by a nearby <lightning> discharge also produces an expanding pressure disturbance. Its blast can impart a mechanical <impulse>, causing a fall or blunt injury without current passing through the person.<Frontcountry Lightning Risk Management>[p. 1, “How Lightning Hurts Us”: expanding air and blast-related blunt trauma]{ref}
The absence of a direct strike therefore does not distinguish electrical incapacity from mechanical displacement. Observations would be needed to identify the mechanism in a particular event.
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