Man who rushed in to aid girl bitten in Boca Grande shark attack now facing deportation
One of the men who went into the water off Boca Grande to help after a 9-year-old girl was bitten this month by a shark, Luis Alvarez, was arrested a few days later for driving without a license. He is now in the Collier County Jail facing deportation.
Alvarez, 31, of Lehigh Acres, 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 says 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 has been in the country for 2 1/2 years and has never had a driver’s license, the report stated.
Shark-bite victim Leah Lendel, 9, of Bradenton poses for a photo at Tampa General Hospital, where doctors reattached her hand after she was attacked June 11 off the coast of Boca Grande.
Alverez was arrested for driving without a license and issued a warning for not having the headlights on.
The arrest report says Alvarez is from Boaco, Nicaragua. Court records indicate he is being held for in the jail by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is scheduled to go before a judge on July 9.
Leah Lendel sustained severe injuries after she was bitten by a shark a few feet off the beach in Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island. Her hand was nearly severed, but fast action at the scene and an airlift to Tampa General Hospital allowed surgeons to re-attach 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 in the water first to scare the shark and help Lendel’s sister.
Booking photo of Luis Avarez, arrested in June on a charge of driving without a license days after reportedly assisting in the rescue of a 9-year-old girl in Boca Grande.
“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.
Shark-bite victim Leah Lendel of Bradenton and her family were surrounded at a June 19 news conference by some of the doctors who reattached her hand at Tampa General Hospital. Lendel was attacked June 11 off the coast of Boca Grande.
Court records indicate Alvarez has no arrest history in Collier County. He was arrested on similar charges 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.
Alvarez is represented in 2024 by attorney Jose Calvo. He could not be reached for comment.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Luis Alvarez rushed to help after shark bite, now faces deportation
