Watch Fla. Deputies Help Comfort 9-Year-Old Girl after Shark Attack
"You're being very brave. Very strong," a Lee County sheriff's deputy told a 9-year-old girl after a shark bit and partially severed her hand while she was snorkeling in Boca Grande.
Lee County sheriff's deputies and other first responders quickly come to the aid of a 9-year-old girl whose hand was partially severed by a shark bit while snorkeling off a beach in Boca Grande.
Body camera footage shows deputies comforting the child, applying pressure to control bleeding and coordinating her airlift to the hospital.
The girl underwent emergency surgery to reattach her hand, and deputies thanked bystanders who wrapped towels around the victim's hand before emergency crews reached the scene.
Dramatic body camera footage captured the amazing actions of Florida deputies and other first responders as they cared for a 9-year-old girl who was bitten in a shark while snorkeling.
The water attack happened June 11 as Leah Lindel was underwater off a beach in Boca Grande when a shark tore into her hand, partially severing it, WTVJ-TV reports. When the girl emerged from the water, her mother, Nadia, said her daughter's hand up to the wrist was drenched in blood.
"I see her hand hanging, like a piece … and there's blood everywhere," Nadia told Lee County sheriff's deputies at the scene.
In the body camera footage, deputies can be seen trying to comfort Leah while assessing the situation. Bystanders had wrapped the girl's hand in beach towels, and the deputies and emergency crews worked to staunch the bleeding as they waited for her to be airlifted out.
“Hi there, sweetheart, you’re being very brave,” a deputy is heard telling Leah. "Very strong."
Leah was flown to the hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery to reattach her hand.
"The doctors were able to do some miracles and put her hand back together," Max Derinsky, Leah's uncle, told the news outlet. "She will be in the hospital for a while and then a lot of physical therapy to hopefully get her hand functioning again."
Bystanders who witnessed the attack said the shark was about 8 feet long. In the aftermath of the attack, a deputy is seen in body camera footage thanking and shaking hands with the men who had wrapped towels around Leah's hand.
Joining Endeavor Business Media in 2018, Joe has worked on the company's city services publications. He began working at OFFICER.com as the assistant editor. Before starting at Endeavor, Joe had worked for a variety of print and online news outlets, including the Indianapolis Star, the South Bend Tribune, Reddit and Patch.com.
