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'Help, a gator's got me!' screams naked man on crack
LAKELAND -- Deputy Billy Osborne heard the man's cries for help but couldn't see him through the thick brush and pre-dawn darkness.
" 'I have two broken arms, and an alligator's got me pinned. I can't move. Please help me,' " the Polk County deputy sheriff recalled the man saying at a news conference Wednesday.
A naked man slumped over, caught in the jaws of a huge alligator amid thick cattails in bloodied water. He said the man, who had been using drugs and lost a lot of blood, seemed oddly calm.
Two other deputies came after, following the man's cries, Osborne's voice and the sounds of the alligator thrashing in the water.
"We were pretty much playing tug of war," Osborne said.
After about 30 seconds, the alligator released the man, whom the Polk County Sheriff's Office identified as 45-year-old Adrian Apgar of nearby Polk City.
The gator nearly severed Apgar's left arm, broke his right arm, and took significant bites out of his buttocks and the back of a thigh. He underwent surgery Wednesday and was in critical condition, sheriff's officials said.
"We don't know whether he'll make it or not," Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said.
In all, it took three deputies and their sergeant about 20 minutes to find and rescue Apgar in Lake Parker.
Judd said Apgar told deputies he had been smoking crack cocaine at the adjacent park, but it was unclear why he was naked or why he was attacked by the alligator.
LAKELAND -- Deputy Billy Osborne heard the man's cries for help but couldn't see him through the thick brush and pre-dawn darkness.
" 'I have two broken arms, and an alligator's got me pinned. I can't move. Please help me,' " the Polk County deputy sheriff recalled the man saying at a news conference Wednesday.
A naked man slumped over, caught in the jaws of a huge alligator amid thick cattails in bloodied water. He said the man, who had been using drugs and lost a lot of blood, seemed oddly calm.
Two other deputies came after, following the man's cries, Osborne's voice and the sounds of the alligator thrashing in the water.
"We were pretty much playing tug of war," Osborne said.
After about 30 seconds, the alligator released the man, whom the Polk County Sheriff's Office identified as 45-year-old Adrian Apgar of nearby Polk City.
The gator nearly severed Apgar's left arm, broke his right arm, and took significant bites out of his buttocks and the back of a thigh. He underwent surgery Wednesday and was in critical condition, sheriff's officials said.
"We don't know whether he'll make it or not," Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said.
In all, it took three deputies and their sergeant about 20 minutes to find and rescue Apgar in Lake Parker.
Judd said Apgar told deputies he had been smoking crack cocaine at the adjacent park, but it was unclear why he was naked or why he was attacked by the alligator.
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