Man Loses Arm in Alligator Attack Behind Florida Bar
Posted 2023-05-31
The 23-year-old had to have his badly damaged arm amputated above the elbow
An alligator attack in a pond behind a bar in Port Charlotte, Florida, resulted in a 23-year-old man losing his arm.
According to CBS News, the alligator measured 10-½ feet .
Bystanders applied a tourniquet to the man’s arm before authorities arrived around 1:40 a.m.
Todd Dunn, a spokesperson from Charlotte County Fire and EMS, said in an email to CBS News that the man, whose name has not been released, was transported by helicopter to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Ft. Myers, where he underwent surgery to amputate his badly damaged right arm above the elbow.
According to The Daily Sun, Manny Hidalgo was at Banditos Bar when the alligator attacked the man. Upon hearing screaming outside, he left the bar with a flashlight to investigate the noise. Hidalgo found the victim in the water.
"He was yelling and swimming toward the shoreline," Hidalgo told The Daily Sun. "I ran and dragged him up onto the sand. I was scared to get close to the water because it was dark out."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent a nuisance alligator trapper to the scene. He located the reptile and removed it from the property. The animal was humanely killed.
