Santa Rosa Man Bitten By Shark Off Miami Beach
MIAMI BEACH (CBS13) – A 31-year-old Santa Rosa man was bitten by a shark while body surfing off Miami Beach.
According to Miami Beach PD, the man was bitten by a blacktip shark near, resulting in an 8-inch cut below the knee. The Press Democrat identified the man as Mark Bowden of Santa Rosa.
He says he was swimming when he received a warning but wasn't concerned.
"This woman on the beach came and said get out of the water I thought I saw something. But we assessed everything and she's like it might have just been a big fish," he said.
Bowden says he went back in the water to body surf and that's when the unexpected happened.
"It felt like something punched my leg really, really hard," he said.
"The scariest and most traumatic part of it for me was trying to get out of the water. It wasn't that deep but I just didn't know what happened," Bowden told the newspaper.
Bowden ran up to a nearby lifeguard station where he was given medical assistance and his girlfriend helped keep his leg elevated.
Paramedics got Bowden's bleeding under control before taking him to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
"It was mostly fat and torn muscle, but the doctors were able to close it," he said.
Police said there appeared to be a number of baitfish schools in the area at the time of the attack.