Witness accounts say Boca Grande, Florida (WFLA) – A cry of a young girl for help urged her to be rushed into the water from Boca Grande amid a shark attack.
Now, one of those men could soon face deportation. Luis Alvarez was arrested just three days after nine-year-old Leah Rendell’s rescue on June 11th.
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“From one side, he’s a hero and now he’s the bad guy. As you know, it shocked me,” Raynell Lugo, who helped out with the rescue, told NBC affiliate WBBH.
According to an arrest report obtained by WBBH, Collier County Councilman said he attracted Alvarez at Immokaley to drive without headlights.
When he was asked to show his driver’s license to his agent, Alvarez showed them a photo of his “employment approval card” on his phone,” the report said.
As soon as lawmakers realized that Alvarez didn’t have a driver’s license, they handcuffed him and took him to prison, WBBH reported.
Alvarez told arrest officer in Spanish that he had been in the US for two and a half years and had no driver’s license.
“He’s a work permit legally permitted to work here in America. Unless he has a criminal history, I don’t know why this person is being detained on the ice if he has a work permit.”
Lugo said Alvarez was the first to jump into the water to scare the sharks.
“I then spoke to him,” Lugo said. “Even laughing about the fact that we can think about what will happen to us.
The body camera video shows Lugo, Alvarez and a third construction worker standing next to the water as EMS handled the Leah. Authorities said Leah’s hand was severed in the attack. The surgeon was able to get his hands back after six hours of surgery.
As of Tuesday, Alvarez had remained at Collier County Jail, waiting for the July 9th court date. Lugo said he plans to talk to an immigration lawyer and see what he can do to help him.
“I think this guy, Lewis, deserves a second chance,” Lugo told WBBH. “I don’t think he thought twice about it to save that little girl after what he went through and after people saw it on the news.”
8 Your side has reached out to the Customs and Border Patrol to confirm Alvarez’s potential deportation. I haven’t received a response yet.
