One of the men who went into the water off the Southwest coast of Florida to help after a 9-year-old girl was bitten this month by a shark was arrested a few days later for driving without a license. He is now in the Collier County Jail and may be facing deportation.
The Good Samaritan, Luis Alvarez, 31, of Lehigh Acres, in Lee County, Florida, was stopped about 1:30 a.m. on June 14 while driving on West Main Street in Immokalee without his headlights on. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office arrest report said he was driving a gray SUV with a Rhode Island tag.
When asked for his license, Alvarez called up a picture of his Employment Authorization Card on his phone. 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, the report stated.
Watch this video to learn how to avoid a shark attack in Florida
Alverez was arrested on a charge of driving without a license and was issued a warning for not having his headlights on.
The arrest report said Alvarez is from Boaco, Nicaragua. Court records indicate he is being held in jail by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is scheduled to go before a judge on July 9.
Court records indicate Alvarez has no arrest history in Collier County. He was arrested on similar charges of not having a valid driver’s license four times in Lee County, dating back to December 2023. He paid fines or had adjudication withheld by three different judges. In the most recent case, the judge issued a D6 suspension on June 23, meaning Alvarez had not paid his fine and was unable to apply for a license.
Leah Lendel of Bradenton sustained severe injuries after she was bitten by a shark a few feet off the beach in Boca Grande, a small residential community on Gasparilla Island. Her hand was nearly severed, but fast action at the scene and an airlift to Tampa General Hospital allowed surgeons to reattach her hand. She is recovering.
Raynel Lugo, who also helped during the rescue, said in an interview with Fox4 News, which first reported the Alverez arrest, that Alvarez went into the water first to scare the shark and help Lendel’s sister.
“He jumped in that area to bring her out when I was assisting Leah,” said Lugo in the Fox4 interview. “He went deep underwater, not even caring about the shark. He went really deep. He probably faced the shark.”
Body camera footage from a Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy who responded to the call shows the three men standing next to the water as Leah was being treated by EMS.
Alvarez, through an interpreter, told first responders it looked like about an eight-foot shark. Experts later said it was possibly a bull shark, one of the more aggressive sharks in Florida waters.
Alvarez is represented in 2024 by attorney Jose Calvo. He could not be reached for comment.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Man who rushed in to help Florida girl bitten by shark may now be facing deportation
Reporting by Charlie Whitehead, Fort Myers News-Press / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
