Shark Bite Victim Recounts Battle with Aggressive Predator

June 29--AVON, N.C. -- Patrick Thornton, a banker from Charlotte, was playing in the Avon surf Friday with his son when he felt a tug on his ankle.

Thornton, 47, and his family were vacationing on the Outer Banks. They had been swimming in the same area the entire week.

"I thought it was a crab bite at first," he said from his room at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Thornton was flown to the hospital after becoming the fifth shark bite victim this month on the North Carolina coast. A sixth person was attacked the next day.

He had heard about the other recent shark attacks in North Carolina and was on the lookout, but was already bleeding when he spotted a 5-foot long, dark colored shark swimming around him in waist deep water.

"I yelled, 'Shark! Shark!'" he said.

People around him including his niece and nephew scrambled to the beach. Thornton felt the shark latch onto his back. He punched it in the head and side three times before the predator let loose.

He lunged further out into the ocean to save his 8-year-old son, who was paralyzed with fear. He pushed him toward the shore and put himself between the boy and the shark.The creature leaped from the water and sank its teeth into his back again. Thornton elbowed it in the nose. Three other sharks swam close by, apparently drawn to the blood coming from his leg wound, he said. Again, the shark let loose after Thornton's blows, giving him the chance to get to shore.

Avon Fire and Rescue was on the scene in minutes, he said. He reassured his children he would be all right as the paramedics took him away.

"I felt really calm when I came out of the ocean," he said.

He has deep puncture wounds on his back. He lost 10 inches of skin just above his ankle. He is recovering well and was to be released from the hospital today.

It had been a peaceful, relaxing vacation to the Outer Banks until Friday, but sharks will not keep him away, he said.

"I will definitely come back again," he said. "Obviously, I will be very cautious about going into the water."

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