Dolphin Lands In Boat, Breaks Woman's Ankles

Family managed to save the animal
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 1, 2015 3:52 PM CDT
Dolphin Lands In Boat, Breaks Woman's Ankles
This June 21, 2015, photo provided by Dirk Frickman shows a dolphin that leaped onto his boat.   (Dirk Frickman via AP)

A dolphin leaped onto a boat in Southern California, crashing into a woman and breaking both her ankles. Chrissie Frickman was boating with her husband and two children June 21 when a pod of dolphins swam alongside them. One of the animals jumped on the vessel, knocking Frickman over and landing on her legs, reports the Orange County Register. Her husband, Dirk, pulled her out and called authorities as he headed toward an Orange County harbor. At one point, while he steered, he splashed water on the 350-pound dolphin to keep it alive as it thrashed around and bled from some cuts.

"I could hear my phone buzzing and beeping on the floor—it was covered in blood," he says. At the dock, Dirk Frickman sought help getting the dolphin out of the boat and back into the water. "It swam away with no problem," he says. His wife is still recovering from her injuries. Harbor Patrol Sgt. DJ Haldeman confirmed the incident, adding that sea lions have been known to jump aboard boats before, but that this is the first he's heard of a dolphin doing the same. "I don't know what was in the water, but something must have scared it out." (More strange stuff stories.)

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