Latest news with #BocaGrande
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Yahoo
Good samaritan who helped 9-year-old after shark attack now detained by ICE — facing possible deportation
A good samaritan who sprang into action to help save a nine-year-old girl after a shark attack in Florida is now being held by ICE agents and is at risk of being deported. Luis Alvarez, 31, was one of several men who intervened in the incident, in Boca Grande, in which the child was attacked by a suspected Bull shark while snorkeling near to the shore. Just days after his heroic actions, Alvarez was stopped about 1:30 a.m. on June 14 while driving without his headlights on. When asked for his license, Alvarez gave officers a picture of his Employment Authorization Card on his phone. According to the arrest report, obtained by USA Today, he told the arresting officer in Spanish that he had been in the country for two and a half years and had never had a driver's license. Alvarez, who is originally from Boaco, Nicaragua, was arrested on a charge of driving without a license and issued a warning for not having his headlights on. He is currently being held at the Collier County Jail by ICE, and may be facing deportation. He is scheduled to go before a judge on July 9, according to court records. Though he has no history of arrest in Collier County, court documents show that Alvarez has been arrested on similar charges of not having a valid license four times in nearby Lee County, Florida. He paid fines or had adjudication withheld by three different judges. In the most recent case, however, the judge issues a D6 suspension in June 24, meaning he had not paid his fine and was unable to apply for a license, according to USA Today. On June 9, nine-year-old Leah Lendel was swimming near shore when she was attacked by a shark, which partially severed her hand, her mother, Nadia Lendel, told NBC Miami at the time. "And then she flies out and like I look over, I don't know if I heard a yell or what, but she went that and I see her hand hanging, like a piece and there's blood everywhere," her mother told police through tears. Police body camera footage captured the moments following the horrifying attack, as rescue crews and several men, including Alvarez, came to the girl's aid. The men wrapped the youngster's hand in towels before she was airlifted to a hospital for emergency surgery. According to her family, the surgeons were able to fix her hand, though she will still require therapy in order for her it to function properly again. Raynel Lugo, who also helped during the attack, told Fox4 News that Alvarez went into the water first to scare the shark. "He jumped in that area to bring her out when I was assisting Leah," Lugo told the outlet. "He went deep underwater, not even caring about the shark. He went really deep. He probably faced the shark."
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Man who helped girl attacked by shark in Florida detained by Ice officials
A man who helped rescue a nine-year-old girl after she was attacked and badly injured by a shark in Florida has been detained by immigration authorities – and he could face deportation. Luis Alvarez was stopped in the early hours of 14 June after police said he was driving without headlights on, according to an arrest report seen by the Fort Myers News-Press. The paper revealed Alvarez was being held in jail by the US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). As Donald Trump promised it would during his victorious 2024 presidential election, the White House is conducting a national crackdown on immigration with broad sweeps by Ice that have triggered widespread fears in many communities across the US. The Trump administration has claimed its immigration crackdown's priority is to target dangerous criminals. But recent data has shown a surge in people with no criminal history being targeted by the crackdown. Being in the US without legal status is not a criminal offense – it is a civil infraction. Alvarez had been involved in the widely reported shark attack on Leah Lendel, nine, when the youngster was bitten on 9 June while she swam in shallow water off the coast of Boca Grande, Florida. Alvarez had been on the beach during the attack and ran into the water to help the injured child, according to witnesses and local media reports. Lendel's hand was nearly severed after the attack. Alvarez was the first person into the water as he sought to scare the shark, fellow rescuer Raynel Lugo said in an interview with local television station Fox4 News. 'He jumped in that area to bring her out when I was assisting Leah,' Lugo told the broadcaster 'He went deep underwater, not even caring about the shark. He went really deep. He probably faced the shark.' Alvarez is now scheduled for a court hearing before a judge on 9 July. Police reportedly described him as being originally from Boaco, Nicaragua.
The Independent
30-06-2025
- The Independent
Good samaritan who saved 9-year-old from shark attack now detained by ICE — facing possible deportation
A good samaritan who sprang into action to help save a nine-year-old girl after a shark attack in Florida is now being held by ICE agents and is at risk of being deported. Luis Alvarez, 31, was one of several men who intervened in the incident, in Boca Grande, in which the child was attacked by a suspected Bull shark while snorkeling near to the shore. Just days after his heroic actions, Alvarez was stopped about 1:30 a.m. on June 14 while driving without his headlights on. When asked for his license, Alvarez gave officers a picture of his Employment Authorization Card on his phone. According to the arrest report, obtained by USA Today, he told the arresting officer in Spanish that he had been in the country for two and a half years and had never had a driver's license. Alvarez, who is originally from Boaco, Nicaragua, was arrested on a charge of driving without a license and issued a warning for not having his headlights on. He is currently being held at the Collier County Jail by ICE, and may be facing deportation. He is scheduled to go before a judge on July 9, according to court records. Though he has no history of arrest in Collier County, court documents show that Alvarez has been arrested on similar charges of not having a valid license four times in nearby Lee County, Florida. He paid fines or had adjudication withheld by three different judges. In the most recent case, however, the judge issues a D6 suspension in June 24, meaning he had not paid his fine and was unable to apply for a license, according to USA Today. On June 9, nine-year-old Leah Lendel was swimming near shore when she was attacked by a shark, which partially severed her hand, her mother, Nadia Lendel, told NBC Miami at the time. "And then she flies out and like I look over, I don't know if I heard a yell or what, but she went that and I see her hand hanging, like a piece and there's blood everywhere," her mother told police through tears. Police body camera footage captured the moments following the horrifying attack, as rescue crews and several men, including Alvarez, came to the girl's aid. The men wrapped the youngster's hand in towels before she was airlifted to a hospital for emergency surgery. According to her family, the surgeons were able to fix her hand, though she will still require therapy in order for her it to function properly again. Raynel Lugo, who also helped during the attack, told Fox4 News that Alvarez went into the water first to scare the shark. "He jumped in that area to bring her out when I was assisting Leah," Lugo told the outlet. "He went deep underwater, not even caring about the shark. He went really deep. He probably faced the shark."
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Yahoo
Shark nearly bites off nine-year-old girl's hand in attack off Florida coast
A 9-year-old girl nearly lost her hand after a shark attacked her while she swam just off the coast of Florida recently, according to her family and witnesses. The harrowing attack served up a grim reminder that the Sunshine state is a world leader in unprovoked shark bites against humans – though such cases remain rare and were evidently waning as of late. Leah Lendel was snorkeling near the shore of Boca Grande, Florida, about midday Wednesday with her mother and two siblings – ages one and three – when a shark bit her. Related: Florida man bitten by alligator then fatally shot by deputies after 'rampage', sheriff says On a video captured by a local sheriff's deputy's body-worn camera and published by the National News Desk, the mother, Nadia Lendel, said she realized what had happened when she heard Leah yell. 'I could see her hand hanging … and just blood everywhere,' the woman said on the footage. Nadia Lendel said she frantically tried to get the younger children out of the water while she yelled for help. Construction workers taking a lunch break nearby heard the screaming, ran over, wrapped a towel around Leah's bleeding hand and called emergency responders. Nadia Lendel's husband, Yevgeni, who had been swimming further away from the shore at the time of the bite, then carried Leah to the road to await paramedics. Officials said Leah was flown to a hospital in Tampa, Florida, for treatment. The Lendel family told ABC News in a statement that Leah subsequently underwent a 'long surgery'. On Instagram, where she posts about parenting and has about 98,000 followers, Nadia Lendel later wrote that the surgery was meant to save Leah's wrist and fingers. 'Doctors … were able to get blood flow to her entire hand, and all of her fingers,' Nadia Lendel added. Nadia Lendel then wrote on Friday morning that Leah 'was able to move all of her fingers'. 'This is truly a miracle,' she continued. The deputy who responded to the scene of Leah's shark bite as his body-worn camera was filming video told Nadia Lendel on Wednesday: 'Sounds like you guys did everything right that you could.' The deputy also told the construction workers who aided Leah that they did a 'very good, good job' wrapping a towel around her injury, and he shook hands with each of them Wednesday. One of the men, who identified himself as Raynal Lugo, said the shark which attacked Leah was about 8ft long. There was 'blood all over the place – you could see it in the sand,' Lugo told the deputy. Lugo said he marvelled at how 'brave' Leah was amid her ordeal. 'Not even one tear,' he remarked. At one point, the deputy's video captured a paramedic asking Leah as she was on the ground surrounded by first responders: 'How are you sweetheart? What grade are you in?' The girl calmly answered that she was going into fourth grade. 'I don't know how she's doing this so well,' Nadia Lendel is shown telling the deputy about her daughter at another instance. 'She's just handling it.' The number of bites like that which victimized Leah in 2024 was significantly below average, according to the most recent edition of the Florida Museum of Natural History's international shark attack file. There had been 47 confirmed unprovoked shark bites across the globe last year after an average of 64 annually between 2019 and 2023, said the file, a renowned resource. Twenty-eight of 2024's unprovoked shark attacks were in the US, with 14 – half – registered in Florida. The country with the second-most unprovoked shark bites in 2024, Australia, had five fewer than Florida.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Man who helped girl attacked by shark in Florida detained by Ice officials
A man who helped rescue a nine-year-old girl after she was attacked and badly injured by a shark in Florida has been detained by immigration authorities – and he could face deportation. Luis Alvarez was stopped in the early hours of 14 June after police said he was driving without headlights on, according to an arrest report seen by the Fort Myers News-Press. The paper revealed Alvarez was being held in jail by the US's immigration and customs enforcement (Ice). As Donald Trump promised it would during his victorious 2024 presidential election, the White House is conducting a national crackdown on immigration with broad sweeps by Ice that have triggered widespread fears in many communities across the US. The Trump administration has claimed its immigration crackdown's priority is to target dangerous criminals. But recent data has shown a surge in people with no criminal history being targeted by the crackdown. Being in the US without legal status is not a criminal offense – it is a civil infraction. Alvarez had been involved in the widely reported shark attack on Leah Lendel, 9, when the youngster was bitten on 9 June while she swam in shallow water off the coast of Boca Grande, Florida. Alvarez had been on the beach during the attack and ran into the water to help the injured child, according to witnesses and local media reports. Lendel's hand was nearly severed after the attack. Alvarez was the first person into the water as he sought to scare the shark, fellow rescuer Raynel Lugo said in an interview with local television station Fox4 News. 'He jumped in that area to bring her out when I was assisting Leah,' Lugo told the broadcaster 'He went deep underwater, not even caring about the shark. He went really deep. He probably faced the shark.' Alvarez is now scheduled for a court hearing before a judge on 9 July. Police reportedly described him as being originally from Boaco, Nicaragua.
