MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Newly-released body camera video shows deputies and firefighters working to rescue a snorkeler injured by a boat propeller after being struck off the Lower Florida Keys during lobster mini-season.
It was one of several incidents in South Florida Wednesday after spiny lobster mini sport season kicked off; it ends at 11:59 Thursday night.
Video released by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office shows first responders treating snorkeler Sean Steven Bender, 20, of Seminole, who was under the Boca Chica Channel Bridge Wednesday morning when a boater in a 19-foot Stratos struck him.
The video shows deputies and firefighters applying a tourniquet and trying to comfort Bender’s family, as they tried to talk to him as he drifted in and out of consciousness before taking him away to be airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center.
Bender was still in serious condition as of Thursday afternoon.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating the crash, identified the boater as Mark Johnson, 36, of Key West. They did not indicate whether he would face any citations or charges.
Bender’s family declined to speak with Local 10 News. Bender’s mother, Jill Bender, did verify Nancy Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for Bender, had a fundraising page to benefit her son.
“Let’s do what we can to provide food and shelter for them as they dedicate themselves to him and his recovery,” Fitzgerald wrote. “Let’s take away their worries financially so they can focus on what is important. Sean.”
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Grace Ortega contributed to this report.