Jaws attack on NY man
Bitten in Cape Cod swin
A Westchester man swimming off the coast of Cape Cod was attacked by a shark this week, officials said.
William Lytton, 61, of Scarsdale, had been enjoying a swim at Long Nook Beach in Truro, Mass., on Wednesday when the shark struck.
He suffered deep puncture wounds to his torso and legs in the attack, which happened around 4 p.m., according to Cape Cod National Seashore.
Boston College School of Nursing graduates Molly Tobin and Kerstin Peter Leitner were among the beachgoers who found Lytton.
“We grabbed all the towels that we could, put them on him to stop the bleeding,” Leitner told WCVB.
Tobin said, “Unfortunately, there’s no cellphone service, so someone had to run up to a house to call 911.”
Lytton was airlifted to Boston’s Tufts Medical Center in serious condition.
State biologists were working to confirm whether his wounds are consistent with a bite from a great white shark. The species is known to frequent the Cape Cod area, where Steven Spielberg filmed “Jaws.”
Social media users were quick to point this out on Thursday after hearing about the attack.
“Jaws is alive and well on Cape Cod,” one person tweeted.
“Cape Cod Jaws is Real,” another said.
Experts told WCVB that the local shark population has increased in the past decade due to a growing number of seals. Wednesday’s attack could have been a case of “mistaken identity,” experts said.
“While we still don’t know all of the details of this particular bite, sharks are not known to target people specifically,” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said in a statement. “And when they do bite people, it’s usually a case of mistaken identity.”
Long Nook Beach was expected to remain closed to swimmers until at least the weekend. The last attack to take place on Cape Cod was in July 2012 off Ballston Beach.