SURFER RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER SHARK BITE: LOS OSOS (AP) — A California man who was pulled off his surfboard and bitten by a juvenile great white shark was released from the hospital Monday, a spokesman for the medical center said.
The man from the San Luis Obispo area was surfing along the Central California coast Sunday when, seemingly out of nowhere, the shark dragged him underwater at Montana de Oro State Park. He popped back up a few seconds later and yelled, “Shark!”
“He was full of adrenaline. He peddled so fast out of there,” witness Andrew Walsh said in a video Mike Jones took shortly after the attack.
The surfer used the leash from his board to create a tourniquet around his leg as he dashed to shore, Walsh said. A doctor who happened to be walking along the beach came to his aid and determined no arteries had been severed, Walsh said.
“We knew we had some time,” he said, recalling the attack while packing his friend’s surfboard into a truck. It had a deep puncture on one side and a crack, seemingly in the shape of shark teeth, on the other.
Officials said the surfer suffered cuts to his right hip area. Authorities didn’t name him, but friends identified him as Kevin Swanson, an avid surfer in his 50s.
2 WOMEN KILLED BY 2 TRAINS IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA: FRESNO (AP) — Two women have been killed by Amtrak trains while walking on tracks in Central California in separate incidents within an hour of each other.
Fresno police Sgt. Clayton Smith tells the Fresno Beethat one woman who appeared about 30 years old was walking along tracks Sunday when she was hit.
Smith says the woman did not turn to look or acknowledge the train that was honking repeatedly and could not stop in time before hitting her.
He said the woman, who appeared to be homeless or transient, has not been identified.
About a half-hour earlier, another woman was killed as she walked on tracks in Corcoran.
Kings County Senior Deputy Rod Shulman says that woman also didn’t respond to a honking horn. Her name and age have not been released.
FLEEING DRIVER PLUMMETS OFF HIGHWAY TO HIS DEATH: PORTUGUESE BEACH (AP) — A Northern California driver who sped away from a park ranger plunged 75 feet off a highway to his death.
The California Highway Patrol says a state parks ranger tried to stop a Ford Ranger pickup truck for multiple mechanical violations about 5 miles north of Bodega Bay on Sunday night.
But the 46-year-old male motorist refused to stop. The truck hit a milepost marker, drove across the shoulder and plummeted to the Sonoma County beach below. The man was ejected from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released.
FIREFIGHTERS PLACED ON LEAVE AS PROBE PROCEEDS: SACRAMENTO . (AP) — Sixteen state firefighters were placed on paid administrative leave Monday for unrelated policy violations that grew out of an investigation into allegations of firefighters having sex on fire trucks, officials said.
The investigation began in May after fire academy instructor and battalion chief Orville Fleming was charged with murder in the death of a former escort who became his girlfriend.
Fleming’s estranged wife told Sacramento County sheriff’s investigators and reporters then that she had viewed a video showing the victim, Sarah June Douglas, 26, having sex with her husband and other firefighters on fire trucks.
“The investigation has already determined that allegations of a sex tape are unfounded,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Janet Upton said. Nor was there any use of prostitutes or other improper sexual activity on state time or equipment, she said.
