Swimmer Bitten Off Hutchinson Island During Afternoon Outing

On the afternoon of May 4, 2006, Rachel King, a female in her late 20s from Port St. Lucie, was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 500 to 700 yards offshore from Hutchinson Island near Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Florida. King was part of a group of three people who had decided to swim from their boat while enjoying favorable weather conditions. According to witness accounts, King had been in the water for less than 10 seconds when she began screaming that she had been bitten. Her companions, Mike Collins and David Martin, both from Fort Pierce, immediately assisted her back into the vessel. Collins and Martin applied a towel to control bleeding from the injury. When the boat's engine failed to restart, the group contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance. King sustained two lacerations to her lower right leg, measuring approximately 8 and 10 inches in length, with characteristics described as puncture-like wounds by Captain Brian Blizzard of the St. Lucie County Fire District. Emergency responders from the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Fort Pierce and St. Lucie County Fire District responded to the scene. A helicopter from St. Lucie County Air Rescue was initially dispatched but was recalled once the injury was determined to be minor. King was transported by boat to the Coast Guard station and subsequently by ambulance to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute for treatment. While rescue personnel confirmed the bite was inflicted by a marine creature with teeth, the specific species could not be definitively identified. The incident occurred during spring, a period when offshore fishermen along the Treasure Coast had reported increased shark sightings coinciding with the marine animals' mating season. Weather conditions at the time were partly cloudy with visibility of 10 miles, air temperature of 84.9°F, and light winds from the east-northeast.