OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The sole survivor of a horrific tragedy at the Bricktown Canal in Oklahoma City is speaking out after winning a case against electrical contractor Libra Electric Company. This comes just days after a jury demanded the electric company pay more than $8 million to the two families involved.

Back in 2018, 23-year-old Wesley Seeley was electrocuted when a light bollard lining the canal gave way, causing him to come into contact with exposed wires while he was in the charged water. He was pronounced dead on scene.

A second man and complete stranger, Brandon Gann, jumped into the water after Seeley and was seriously shocked during his attempt to save him. The accident left him hospitalized for many days, with months of follow-up medical appointments after that.

This week, Gann and his wife, Taylor Gann, felt celebratory relief after being awarded $5.5 million dollars for damages.

“I was dead for like 17 minutes,” Brandon recalled.

His heart had completely stopped for those 17 minutes when he was shocked by the electrified water in September 2018, but he ultimately lived. He shared that he feels survivor’s guilt because Seeley died.

“You tried. You just didn’t succeed,” Brandon said of himself. “That’s the mental game that I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life.”

Gann endured extensive lung and heart damage from the electrical shock.

He and his wife were in Oklahoma City for the start of their honeymoon which was to continue in the Bahamas. Gann lost all memory of his wedding ceremony after the incident. He even forgot he was engaged to Taylor.

“Your wedding day is one of the best days of your life and so is getting engaged,” the wife expressed. “Honestly, it was terrifying because you just feel like all these memories that you make with somebody that you love have been erased. So, you have all these feelings and all these things that you remember that you love but the person you love doesn’t have the same.”

“Going forward, anytime we have a wedding anniversary, the very next day is super dark,” Branded chimed in. “It just feels like a funeral with Wes passing away.”

Gann reported that while not all his memory has returned, his body is mostly physically healed.

“Right now, I feel normal. I feel good,” he said.

He and his wife expressed satisfaction at winning their case against Libra Electric, a contractor who had once worked on the canal light bollards. Gann asserted that the company did not alert the City of Oklahoma City of the bollard’s dangerous condition after working on them.

“If they are reckless in what they’re doing, they need to be paying for it,” Brandon said. “That’s kind of how we feel why we deserve it is because they were reckless.”

A member of the legal team that represented the Ganns said the following Friday:

“Libra left this light bollard, and the other five that were in front of Brickopolis, not securely mounted and, in their own words, wobbly and very dangerous; did not inform the city that they had not been secured them properly, and in fact communicated that they were all in good working order; and did not de-energize the light bollards and lock the panel so that they could not be re-energized until the fixtures were re-installed in a safe way or their removal was completed. Basically, they performed very sub-standard work on these lights that created a public safety risk, did nothing to mitigate that risk, and did not tell their client, the City, about the hidden danger they had created. As a result, when Wesley died and Brandon and Taylor’s lives were changed forever.”

ATTORNEY FOR BRANDON AND TAYLOR GANN

Libra Electric previously said in court documents they “deny any and all liability and asserts that it did not breach any legal duty. Rather, the injuries, death and damages claimed by the plaintiffs resulted solely from the fault of Mr. Seeley, of the City of Oklahoma City and others.”

KFOR reached out the electric contractor’s attorney Friday but have not yet heard back from him.

A jury awarded the families more than $8 million in damages.

Officials say Seeley’s mother was awarded $3 million, while Gann was awarded $5 million. Gann’s wife was also awarded $500,000.

The jury found that Libra Electric is responsible to pay 75 percent of the awarded amounts.