07/23/2005 Matthew Pearce (Florida)
Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:33 am
Man reports ankle bite in surf
STAFF REPORT
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — A 25-year-old Heathrow resident may be Volusia County´s second shark-bite victim of 2005.
Beach Patrol Capt. Tony Sopotnick said Matthew Pearce told officers he was surfing about a quarter mile south of Ponce de Leon Inlet at about 11:15 a.m. Friday when he stepped off his surfboard and was forcefully bumped.
"He said it almost knocked him over," Sopotnick said.
Almost simultaneously, Pearce said he felt a bite on his left ankle and then he stepped on the creature, the report said.
"He said he never saw the shark," Sopotnick said.
The captain said Beach Patrol officials treated Pearce for a laceration on his upper ankle before he left the beach in his car.
Pearce went to Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach where Dr. Arlen Stauffer sutured the wound.
However, Stauffer, director of the hospital´s emergency department, believes Pearce´s laceration did not have the typical characteristics of a shark bite.
"It was a single, straight, 2 1/2-inch laceration," he said.
Pearce was released after treatment.
Friday´s incident is the second reported bite this year. On May 28, Miami resident Alfonso Garcia, 33, was swimming in the surf in Daytona Beach Shores when he was bitten on his left foot.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/speci ... 072305.htm
STAFF REPORT
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — A 25-year-old Heathrow resident may be Volusia County´s second shark-bite victim of 2005.
Beach Patrol Capt. Tony Sopotnick said Matthew Pearce told officers he was surfing about a quarter mile south of Ponce de Leon Inlet at about 11:15 a.m. Friday when he stepped off his surfboard and was forcefully bumped.
"He said it almost knocked him over," Sopotnick said.
Almost simultaneously, Pearce said he felt a bite on his left ankle and then he stepped on the creature, the report said.
"He said he never saw the shark," Sopotnick said.
The captain said Beach Patrol officials treated Pearce for a laceration on his upper ankle before he left the beach in his car.
Pearce went to Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach where Dr. Arlen Stauffer sutured the wound.
However, Stauffer, director of the hospital´s emergency department, believes Pearce´s laceration did not have the typical characteristics of a shark bite.
"It was a single, straight, 2 1/2-inch laceration," he said.
Pearce was released after treatment.
Friday´s incident is the second reported bite this year. On May 28, Miami resident Alfonso Garcia, 33, was swimming in the surf in Daytona Beach Shores when he was bitten on his left foot.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/speci ... 072305.htm