‘Those gators, I didn’t truly understand them until I woke up in the hospital’
When the line for the bathroom was too long on Saturday night, Jordan Rivera decided to go behind Banditos Bar instead.
The 23-year-old told ABC affiliate WZVN, that he “saw the lake” behind the Florida bar and figured he’d relieve himself over there, “take a little pee or whatnot”.
That’s where it all went wrong: “Something happened where I either tripped…and ended up in the water, and that’s literally the last thing I remember.”
Unfortunately, the pond happened to be home to a ten-foot alligator, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said.
Rivera does not recall what happened next, he just woke up in the hospital without his right arm.
FWC officials, as well as first responders from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and EMS, were called early Sunday morning to reports of a man suffering “significant injuries” after being bitten by an alligator
“Those gators, I didn’t truly understand them until I woke up in the hospital and, ‘Oh, gator got your arm,'” Rivera said.
Asked about speculation that he might have tried to feed the alligator, prompting the attack, Rivera firmly denied the suggestion, adding that Banditos does not offer food that he could have fed it.
Rivera’s mother, Teresa Rivera, credits bystanders with saving her son’s life.
She told WZVN: “I call them angels that were there that saved his life.
“The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet to me is a miracle that he’s here.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission later hired a professional alligator trapper, who located the 10.5-foot reptile alligator at the same property where Rivera was attacked. It was removed from the pond and euthanised.
Rivera, who is still recovering in the hospital with his arm amputated, looks back on the attack optimistically. “I didn’t lose my life, lost an arm. It’s not the end of the world.”
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