November 29, 2006

Most times, the gator wins

LAKELAND - At about 4 a.m. this morning, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received multiple calls about a man yelling for help in the area of Lake Parker county park....

[....]

Deputies immediately entered the alligator-infested water and began a search for the man who was in the grasp of an alligator. Once located, deputies pulled the man from the alligator and made their way approximately 40 feet to shore where an ambulance was waiting to transport him to Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

[....]

The very dark conditions and risk of injuring the victim made shooting the alligator impossible, leaving deputies to contend with their own safety after becoming exhausted in waist deep mud. All deputies made it out of the water without injury.

The victim ... was transported to LMRC in critical condition with an apparent broken right arm, a partially amputated left arm and major trauma to his left upper leg.

2 comments:

Liz Blondsense said...

OMG! That's your neck of the woods isn't it?

Aikäne said...

Yep, right across the lake from R's office (it's a big lake).

There's a lesson here for all of us: Never smoke crack and skinnydip at 4 a.m. in a lake with 12-foot gators.