A 31-year-old woman, Dawn E. Poirier, was hospitalized after a 3-foot-long Gulf sturgeon jumped into her fiance's boat and hit her in the face.
The impact of the fish's bony plates caused Poirier to suffer severe facial injuries and fractures, requiring plastic surgery, her father, Ed White, 63, of St. Petersburg, told The Gainesville Sun.
Poirier's father called the accident "an act of God." The boat, being driven by Poirier's fiance, Johnson R. Staples III, 39, of St. Petersburg, was traveling south on the river going about 35 mph when the sturgeon jumped into the boat.
"It's like she slammed into a brick wall," White said.
Poirier was airlifted to Shands hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where doctors listed her in fair condition. In addition to the injuries to her face, she had a spinal fracture, had stitches to her lips and right wrist and scraped on her shoulders.
The 19-foot boat received $1,000 in damages, said Karen Parker, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The fate of the sturgeon was not known.
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