Several sheriff's deputies in Polk County, Fla., are being credited with saving the life of a 45-year-old man who was attacked by an alligator early Wednesday and was being pulled deeper into a lake, according to a police report. Authorities said the Polk County Sheriff's Office received multiple calls at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday concerning screams for help coming from an area of Lake Parker County Park near the Moose Lodge on East Lake Parker Drive.When officers arrived, they heard a man in the lake screaming for help and saying he was being attacked by an alligator.
The deputies dove into the alligator-infested waters and searched for the man, the police report said. Once the deputies found the victim, they were able to pull him from the alligator's jaws and swim about 40 feet to shore.
The report said Adrian Apgar was transported to Lakeland Regional Medical Center in critical condition with an apparent broken arm, partially amputated left arm and major trauma to his leg.
He's lucky he had the air to scream with. Hopefully he'll pull out of this all right -- sometimes they survive the trauma only to overwhelmed by the bacteria.
UPDATE:
Owen sends a video of Sheriff Grady Judd and the deputies telling what it's like to wade out into a lake in the pitch black to wrestle a guy from a 12-foot, 600-pound alligator's jaws. Mr. Apgar was naked and on crack at the time of the attack. The crackodile has been caught and will be destroyed.
Also: the area's local paper fleshes the story out.
(Thanks to Owen and Cindy for the links.)
UPDATE II:
"I don't know what the fuck he's doing in the goddamn water to begin with." -- The amusing 911 call.
we have the baddest LEOS in the world, right here
smack dab in God's country, hands down. This proves it.
Grady Judd was on the radio today, he said that one
of the deputies was pulling on the guy and felt the
gator's teeth scrape his arm...
It was a twelve foot, 600 lb bull, Donnah. That is a monster lizard.
I've got one that keeps swimming by out back...it's only about six feet, but that .308 with the fold away Lyman 4X that's in the Baymail is going to be put to good use soon..bet that.
As for the swimming at night...I took a dare (along with a buddy of mine) to swim into the mouth of Lake Hancock with a baby gator in my mouth, no lie...for a C-note. Lake Hancock is one of the prime harvesting hunt-off areas known.
See how dumb ETOH makes the little 19 year olds ?
However, I am very accustomed to the alligator. Between my two brothers and I, we have been nailed
several times with a little tail in the truck..
This Apgar fella must be from Alabama or something, everybody knows the gators in Lake Parker are starving to death.
Posted by: csason at November 29, 2006 06:05 PMbtw, the video zeros in on the wrong side of the lake from where he was attacked... he was on the Moose lodge side.
Posted by: csason at November 29, 2006 06:08 PMHe went all four years to Auburndale High. I saw him on the alumni deal.
They feed at sundown, so you just about have to put yourself into their mouths for them to go for you in the mornings. 40 feet out he was. Had to have been swimming.
You say they're starving, but it's wintertime -- aren't they supposed to be dozy?
Hope he makes it.
Posted by: Donnah at November 29, 2006 06:30 PM"aren't they supposed to be dozy?" ...
I reckon not... the lakes are almost upside down, but we haven't had enough of a stretch of cold to complete the cycle.
They hang on the bottom in the winter when the top of the lakes are cooler...only rising occasionally, or to bask.
I mentioned the different side of the lake, because the Moose side is in the county, the west side is City of Lakeland. What a stroke of luck for him, because the Lakeland cops call the Game Wardens for gators..they damn sure wouldn't go in after a drunk dude swimming. Whereas PCSO answers those calls, and those deputies rotate from Frostproof all the way to the Green Swamp..
There are two power plants on Lake Parker. They have released sterile snook in this lake to control the tilapia...the wildlife in this lake, in my opinion, has acclimated itself to the worst possible conditions...and it shows. The fish are all a dull grey. The gators all look like they have a gelcoat...I guess if I had to be chewed on by a gator, one from Lake Parker would just be...
embarassing.
The area where this happened is called 'Combee'.
It has a long and wicked reputation going back to the days of horses and sidearms. There is a rodeo every Saturday night, half a mile from this place.
"As big as a school bus"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS7g2xWzhTQ
Posted by: csason at November 30, 2006 05:47 AM"Mr. Apgar was naked and on crack at the time."
Like, who wouldn't be?
Posted by: tree hugging sister at November 30, 2006 09:16 AMI have to say I feel kind of bad about the poor gator. It seems a damn shame that it will be killed because of some drugged out idjit.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at November 30, 2006 09:34 AMmy God, that long version of the EMS call is unbelieveable... just wow..
How that guy stayed alive against that gator with
broken arms is just unreal.
OMG. It's been about 2 years, but I know exactly where that's at (as well as all about Combee history - long story). I give those officers huge cudos for goin' in and getting him out. That was a flippin' monster!!!
Posted by: Tammi at December 1, 2006 07:29 AM"How that guy stayed alive against that gator with broken arms is just unreal."
Ah, the benefits of using illegal, addictive substances are ALWAYS overlooked in the rush to outlaw them. This proves crack don't kill people ~ it saves them!
Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 1, 2006 10:54 AMyeah but I'll bet it freaked him out...
We admitted around a dozen or so rockheads one weekend when I was in the medical field.. they all had used some bad dope, unfortunately they were all found in places like, up in trees nibbling on leaves..one guy had eaten asphalt off the road...another lady had painted herself with brake fluid, etc. etc.
Tony Montana he was not.
Posted by: csason at December 1, 2006 12:09 PM