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06/22/2022 - Steve Bruemmer - California

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alb
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Re: 06/22/2022 - Steve Bruemmer - California

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Trauma surgeon shares update on Pacific Grove shark attack victim
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A Monterey man attacked by a shark while swimming off Pacific Grove Wednesday morning was bitten by a great white shark, according to investigators with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who took DNA samples from the swimmer's wetsuit.

Watch the full interview with Dr. Nicholas Rottler in the video player above.

The swimmer, identified as 62-year-old Steve Bruemmer of Monterey, narrowly escaped death according to his doctor who spoke to KSBW Action News 8 Thursday evening.

“It could’ve been much, much worse he could’ve not made it out of the water,” said Bruemmer’s doctor Nicholas Rottler, a trauma surgeon at Natividad Medical Center.

Rottler said the shark came within a millimeter of severing a major artery.

“The injuries that he had were easy for us to fix but if they’d been much deeper if it severed a major artery he could’ve bled out in the water before anyone could get him to shore so it could’ve been much, much worse,” Rottler said.

Rottler said he operated on the avid swimmer for over two hours and put “a few hundred stitches” on him.

Effort underway to honor group who rescued shark bite victim in Pacific Grove

Bruemmer is in good spirits, alert and talking, his surgeon said. His road to recovery could take some time.

“He’ll definitely probably have weeks to months of physical therapy just to give time for all the wounds to heal and the muscles to get strong again and he will likely walk out of here but he might walk to a rehab unit to do some rehab first we’ll see how he does,” said Rottler.

Bruemmer released a statement from his hospital bed in which he said: “The shark bite was unlucky. But after that, I have just had so much good luck.”

The day Bruemmer went swimming was marked by warm temperatures, clear skies and calm waters which Bruemmer said may have led to his rescue.

“And the day was so calm and warm, and the beach was crowded. There were no waves, and there was no chop. So people could hear me yelling “Help” from a great distance, including from the Rec Trail, where someone called 911.”

Bruemmer thanked three good Samaritans who came to his aid. A couple from Folsom who was paddle boarding at the time and were in the area celebrating their wedding anniversary, and a surfer from the Moss Landing area.

Bruemmer is part of a local swim club called the Kelp Krawlers but they don’t typically swim on Wednesdays. Bruemmer decided to go swimming Wednesday because the weather was so nice.

“I didn’t know he doesn’t usually swim on Wednesdays, maybe no more swimming on Wednesdays for him,” his surgeon said.

Bruemmer is listed in fair and stable condition at Natividad Medical Center.


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alb
Posts: 1569
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:41 pm

06/22/2022 - Steve Bruemmer - California

Post by alb »

Shark attack in California leaves swimmer with significant injuries, police say
The attack happened off Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove in Monterey County, south of San Jose.

A swimmer in California was attacked by a shark Wednesday and suffered what police described as significant injuries.

The attack happened at around 10:35 a.m. off Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove, a city of around 15,000 in Monterey County, south of San Jose, police said.

Police said in a statement that other swimmers jumped in to help the man.

Officials launched an aerial drone to search for the shark, but it has not been spotted. All beaches in Pacific Grove will be closed until Saturday as a precaution, the police department said.

Pacific Grove City Council member Joe Amelia told NBC affiliate KSBW of Salinas that the man was a surfer and that he suffered serious injuries to his stomach and a leg.

Shark attacks on humans in California are rare, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

It is the second case of an injury from a shark in California this year, department spokesperson Kirsten Macintyre said. The first was at San Miguel Island in February, when a diver suffered a minor injury to a foot.


There have been 203 encounters between humans and sharks in California since 1950, and Wednesday’s incident was the 109th in which a person was injured, she said.

In the 2020s, two people have died and six others have suffered nonfatal injuries in encounters with sharks in California, according to the Fish and Wildlife Department’s website.

Wednesday’s attack was the second recorded incident with a shark at Lovers Point. The first was in 1952, and the victim died, Macintyre said.

DNA tests will confirm what kind of shark was involved in Wednesday's incident, she said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/
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