New York – When a Coney Island lifeguard spied a shark near an upset group of swimmers, he did what he thought was right: He rescued the fish.
Marisu Mironescu, 39, said he was prompted to action Monday after seeing about 75 to 100 people circling the 2-foot sand shark off the beach and “bugging out.”
“They were holding onto it and some people were actually hitting him, smacking his face,” Mironescu said. “Well, I wasn’t going to let them hurt the poor thing.”
He grabbed the largely harmless shark in his arms and backstroked out to sea, where he let it go. “He was making believe like he’s dead, then he wriggled his whole body and tried to bite me,” Mironescu said.
The rescue ended a holiday weekend that began with another city shark scare Saturday, when a 5-foot thresher shark washed up on Rockaway Beach, sending hundreds of swimmers out of the water.
