Body camera footage released Friday featured Florida law enforcement officers responding to a victim of a shark attack May 18 near Marathon.
Kevin Blanco, 22, was reportedly spearfishing with friends in the Florida Keys when he was bitten in the thigh by a shark, Local 10 reported. In a panicked call to 9-1-1, one of Blanco’s friends desperately requested an air-rescue from the dispatcher.
“We need an air rescue, please, it’s really bad. Please, as fast as you can, he’s bleeding really bad,” the caller pleads, according to a recording obtained by Local 10. (RELATED: Diver Reportedly Decapitated By Great White Shark In Mexico)
When the dispatcher informs Blanco’s friend she is going to send an ambulance to the location, he pleads again for air transport. “Please, a helicopter, please we need an airlift, please,” revealing to the dispatcher that Blanco had been bitten in his thigh, leaving a “really big gash.”
WATCH: The Monroe County Sheriff’s office released bodycam footage Friday after responding to a man who was bitten in the leg by a shark in Marathon. https://t.co/FP1IbRcASI
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) May 19, 2023
The victim’s friends were able to transport an injured Blanco by boat to a dock near a popular beachfront restaurant in Marathon, the Sunset Grille, where they were met by deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and officials from Marathon Fire Rescue, Local 10 reported.
Body camera footage revealed police officers tending to Blanco on the boat before transferring him to a gurney and wheeling him away from the pier. The nearby Seven Mile bridge was closed to traffic for a period of time so the medical helicopter could land and transport Blanco to a nearby hospital, the outlet stated. (RELATED: ‘There Was Blood Everywhere’: 13-Year-Old Girl Survives Multiple Shark Bites)
Blanco recalled the moment he was bitten by the shark, telling Local 10 it felt like he had been “hit by an F-150.” Though he is physically recovering from his injuries, Blanco revealed the memory of what happened is something that will be hard to shake. “I see it every time I close my eyes — no joke,” he told the outlet.