Shark show and tell comes back to bite Oakland Park teen
OAKLAND PARK - With gauze on his waist to cover the minor wound he received from a shark bite, an Oakland Park teen was recovering at home Friday and telling a tale of the shark that was “this big.“
Authorities think the nurse shark that bit Brandon Chapman, 14, on Thursday afternoon along a pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea was 3 to 4 feet long.
“Yeah, this big,“ Chapman said, extending his arms almost as far as they would go.
He saw the shark while snorkeling in about 4 feet of water near the Anglin’s Fishing Pier, near Commercial Boulevard.
The shark had gotten tangled in fishing line, Chapman said, and he was able to free the creature.
He lifted the shark from the water to show his friends and fishermen on the pier when the shark suddenly began jerking its body, he said. Before Chapman was able to let go, the shark had clamped down on the teen’s waist, its teeth digging into his skin and muscle.
Someone on the pier called 911, and minutes later Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Kyle was running into the water toward the bizarre scene of a teen with a shark sticking out of his side. Firefighters arrived soon after, ready to try to pry the shark off Chapman using heavy tools, said Mike Jachles, spokesman for Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue.
But all it took, Chapman said, was a couple of good pokes and punches to the shark’s nose. It let go.
The creature fell to the sand, someone threw it back into the water and Chapman was taken to Broward General Medical Center.
“I think the moral to the story could be: If something bites, you shouldn’t mess with it,“ Jachles said.
