Florida prosecutor fights off shark

Florida prosecutor fights off shark

STUART, Fla., March 13 (UPI)

An assistant prosecutor in Florida who fought off a shark during a surfing break plans to get back in the water once his right arm heals.

“I might be a little apprehensive at first,” Assistant Palm Beach County State Attorney Adam McMichael told the Palm Beach Post. “But who gets bitten twice?”

McMichael was about 40 yards off Tiger Shores Beach on Hutchinson Island when he fell from his board and felt something grab his right arm. He used his left hand to punch at the shark, and it let go.

Another surfer noticed that McMichael was in trouble and towed him in. One beachgoer fastened a tourniquet on his arm, and another man who had a first-aid kit bandaged him.

“No one seemed to know who he was. He just came in, did it and left,” McMichael said. “He saved me from losing a lot of blood.”

Doctors at Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart spent two hours reattaching veins and tendons, although they said the shark, luckily, missed everything major. McMichael is expected to make a full recovery except for the loss of some feeling in his right hand.

~ by ww on March 13, 2007.