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'It squeezed my foot like vice': Florida surfer left traumatized with nightmares after terrifying attack

Matt Picarelli recalls how an aggressive spinner shark 'took a chomp' out of his foot
UPDATED MAR 20, 2023
Matt Picarelli had to get 50 stitches at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital after a spinner shark bit his leg while surfing at Pepper Beach Park (GoFundMe, Screenshot/FrontYardVideo/YouTube)
Matt Picarelli had to get 50 stitches at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital after a spinner shark bit his leg while surfing at Pepper Beach Park (GoFundMe, Screenshot/FrontYardVideo/YouTube)

FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA: A surfer has revealed the terrifying details of a terrifying shark attack that gave him uncontrollable nightmares. When Matt Picarelli was brutally attacked in Florida, the water immediately turned red and blood began to flow from his body. The giant animal attacked Picarelli while he was body surfing in the water off Pepper Park Beach in Fort Pierce, about 70 miles north of Palm Beach, on March 12.

The man had returned to the water after a short break from the waves around 11.40 am when he felt discomfort in his right foot. A vicious spinner shark, which can grow up to 10 feet long, had bitten him. The surfer was able to catch an eerie glimpse of the shark's huge fin and tail as the aquatic monster appeared to be carrying out its attack, The Sun reports.

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What are spinner sharks?



 

Spinner sharks get their unusual name because of their peculiar behavior of circling through schools of fish, snapping them up and often leaping into the air. Because of its small teeth and preference for small fish, the spinner shark is not hostile to larger creatures, but the International Shark Attack File has documented 13 unprovoked bites by humans, none of which ended in death.

'Squeezed on my foot like a vice grip'

As the monstrous creature mercilessly tore through 36-year-old Matt Picarelli's flesh, he was left in excruciating pain, which he compared to "a car hitting me with a machete blade at the end of it." He stated, "It's just the power that it went at me. And it just squeezed on my foot like a vice grip." The skilled surfer claimed that the shark only held him in its jaws for a short period of time before letting go. "It was a big animal, and it took a chomp out of my foot," he stated. "And it immediately left," he added. 

'It was bleeding everywhere'

Picarelli's horrified friends helped him get out of the water and onto the beach, while desperately trying not to attract the shark's attention. "It was bleeding everywhere," he recounted. "So, I had a bunch of strangers helping me out, giving me water and putting pressure on the wound." Beachgoers said the shark that attacked him was about three feet long.

'Would have lost all of his toes'

When Picarelli was taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, doctors there told him that he would have lost all of his toes if the attack had been just a few inches lower. He needed surgery because the attack tore one of his tendons and broke a bone in his foot. Doctors had to stitch the bloody wound with 50 stitches. He told WPTV, "It didn’t look good." 

'I’ve been having nightmares'

Picarelli eventually received antibiotics and was released , but he now faces a difficult recovery that he says " will "take many months." He indicated that he will have to wear his broken foot in a non-weight-bearing trunk for up to six weeks, according to his GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $1,000. Although the surfer's physical injuries are slowly healing, he is still struggling to overcome the trauma of the event in his mind. He claims that the incident keeps replaying in his mind, forcing him to relive the horrific moment. He stated, "I've been having nightmares about it with sharks coming towards me and biting me, attacking me."

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