After fifty-five years of spearfishing, Rick Neumann ran into a little more trouble than he was used to. A bull shark bit into his head, neck, and shoulder off the coast of Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
Although Neumann, an avid spear fisherman, sustained injuries requiring 200 stitches, but he’s not blaming the shark. “I think the shark got confused and just lashed out and hit me like a freight train on the right side of my shoulder and head,” he said. The attack occurred at around 40 feet underwater, where Neumann suspects the shark was searching for a cobia that was nearby. According to the victim, the shark was confused, and stopped biting when it realized that Neumann wasn’t a fish.
Neumann was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center. “As we were going back,” he remembered, “I knew I was bleeding a lot and I felt around and knew part of my ear was hanging off.” But the attack isn’t scaring the 70-year-old out of the water–in fact, he can’t wait to get back in. “I will be back out there. It is not the shark’s fault. He got confused. The water was murky and things can happen,” he said.
