After a successful afternoon of spearfishing in Fort Lauderdale, David Labrador surfaced. But he saw a boat moving directly toward his head and dived back underwater.
Not quickly enough.
The boat’s propeller struck his upper left thigh and his rear end, leaving two deep lacerations that were 12 inches and 8 inches long.
“I just kept saying, ‘Save my leg, save my leg,’” Labrador said.
Labrador, of Miami Lakes, appeared at a Fort Lauderdale fire rescue station on Tuesday to meet with his rescuers, able to walk without the aid of crutches or a wheelchair, only weeks after the March 1 accident.
“This is an example of everybody working together between the 911 system, early notification bystanders helping, our crews working together previously with law enforcement, and then bringing (Labrador) into a trauma facility,” said Fort Lauderdale Deputy Fire Chief Garrett Pingol.
A tourist, who happened to be an off-duty firefighter, was visiting Fort Lauderdale beach near Northeast 21st Street where the accident occurred and created a tourniquet with a belt to stop Labrador’s bleeding.
“I initially thought as soon as I take (the makeshift tourniquet) off, it was going to start bleeding a lot, but it didn’t,” firefighter paramedic Charles Stevenson said on Tuesday. “Even then, I still put our (combat) tourniquet on just to make sure it didn’t bleed anymore.”
According to Labrador, the time between being struck by the boat and being brought inside of Broward Health for treatment was under 20 minutes.
“Applying all my training, I had to make sure that he was okay and to get to the truck, get off the scene and get him to the trauma hospital immediately,” Stevenson said. Stevenson was one of the primary faces Labrador remembered as he was recovering.
Labrador received 40 staples and multiple antibiotics. He started physical therapy on March 4 and began walking 50 feet with a walker. He was released two days later and returned to work as a machinery dealer on Monday.
“I love how there’s good people in this world who want to help, and as soon as we got onto the beach, they saw what was wrong and they helped me out of the boat,” Labrador said. “One was applying pressure, the other one was tying a tourniquet on me, and they were just there coaching me through it, (telling me) it’s going to be okay.”
Stevenson handed Labrador a gift bag on Tuesday with a Fort Lauderdale fire rescue baseball cap and a firefighter challenge coin, a special token that has to be earned.
Last week, Labrador and his father celebrated Labrador’s recovery by filleting and eating the frozen mutton snapper, lobster and yellow jack that was caught on the day of his injury.
“One step of facing your fears, you know? Eating your catch and knowing that this could happen to anyone at any time. So don’t live in fear,” Labrador said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is still searching for the boat that hit Labrador. The vessel had outboard motors and was between 30 to 40 feet long. It was last seen heading north with two people on board. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the FWC at 888-404-FWCC.