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Alligator terrorizes apartment complex, chomps down on officer

Flintlock

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May 26, 2006
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Alaska, USA
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Alligator Chomps on Florida Deputy

Posted: May 16th, 2008 03:48 PM EDT


Story by local6.com


DELTONA, Fla. --

A sheriff's deputy was hospitalized after he was attacked and bitten by an aggressive 8-foot alligator that was menacing a Central Florida apartment complex.

Deputy Keith Baughman, 39, responded to calls of a large alligator loose in the parking lot of the Brightside Apartments located on Caribbean Street late Thursday.

Baughman and other deputies responded and found the alligator roaming the area.

The sheriff's office said the alligator lashed out and bit Baughman several times. However, witnesses said the deputy threw a towel on the alligator, jumped on its back and tried to wrestle it.

Baughman was thrown off the back and then bitten, witnesses said.

"His pants ripped up and blood was gushing out and everything," witness Carlos Martinez said. "He started limping away and the alligator was laughing at him. The dude then shot it twice in the head."

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said a second officer, Deputy Jason Stickles, 27, shot the alligator repeatedly.

"I said, 'Don't shoot it,'" witness Jasmin Harris said. "Just wait until the animal people come out. I don't know why they shot it in the first place. They shouldn't have jumped on it. That wasn't their job."

The alligator was hit but did not die and continued to roam the apartment complex.

A trapper eventually came out and killed the animal with a bang stick.

Baughman was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital with injuries to his thigh and knee.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
 

PT111

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This is a classic example on how not to handle an alligator call and it doesn't matter what happens,the policeare going to be wrong. :banghead: Never jump on the back of an alligator would be a good lesson to start with.

A good many years ago our "pet" alligator had a clutch of about 30 babies all trapped in a spillway. I called the wildlife department to see what could be done about them as one alligator was enough for our small pond. The offcer on the other end basically said "This call is not being recorded and the best thing is for you and me to forget that you ever called us." ;) In other words we are ups to our elbows in protected alligators already and don't need no more.
 

ilbob

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One would think that a cop would be smart enough to realize that wrestling a large alligator like that is not for amateurs. Even guys that actually know what they are doing get bit now and then.

You have to wonder what would possess someone to do something that dumb, other than the old "seemed like the thing to do at the time".
 

Citizen

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I guess the gator didn't consider it a lawful detention.

In the YouTube video, you can hear the gator demanding to know the officer's RAS.

The best part was when the cop demanded the gator's ID. The gator said, "I don't have any dammed pockets! Where do you think I'm carrying ID?"

It went down hill from there.
 

MetalChris

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Citizen wrote:
I guess the gator didn't consider it a lawful detention.

In the YouTube video, you can hear the gator demanding to know the officer's RAS.

The best part was when the cop demanded the gator's ID. The gator said, "I don't have any dammed pockets! Where do you think I'm carrying ID?"

It went down hill from there.
Priceless! :lol:
 

Citizen

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CrossFire wrote:
I thought they had taken alligators of the endangered list. If not can't this cop face federal charges?

In which case the gator would be a toothier version of McGruff,

"Taking a bite out of crime."
 

FZJ80

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Aug 6, 2008
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Orlando, Florida, USA
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Citizen wrote:
I guess the gator didn't consider it a lawful detention.

In the YouTube video, you can hear the gator demanding to know the officer's RAS.

The best part was when the cop demanded the gator's ID. The gator said, "I don't have any dammed pockets! Where do you think I'm carrying ID?"

It went down hill from there.
Hilarious!!!! :lol::p
 
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