Alligator Bites Boy's Head, Drags Him Underwater

JaxNews4 ^ | May 20, 2004

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ELTONA, Fla. -- A 12-year-old boy fought off a 7-foot alligator that clamped down on his head and dragged him underwater.

Malcolm Locke was swimming in Lake Diana Wednesday when he noticed an alligator swimming toward him.

The boy tried to swim back to shore but the alligator attacked his head and pulled him underwater, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Locke said the alligator clamped down and wrapped its tail around the boy's stomach before pulling him down.

"I thought I was going to get swallowed up," Locke told WKMG-TV in Orlando.

Locke fought the alligator off by punching it and swam to shore.

A neighbor drove the boy to Florida Hospital in Orange City where he was being treated for cuts and lacerations. The alligator bit off a chunk of his ear but Locke's injuries were not life-threatening.

A trapper was sent to the lake to remove the alligator.

The best thing to do during an alligator attack is struggle, make noise and create confusion, Hill said.

"Malcolm did the right thing," Hill said. "He fought the alligator and it let him go."

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[highlandbreeze]

Why do people go swimming with gators? This is stuff of nightmares.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Good for the him.

No disrespect for the boy, but I have to say that this reminds me of a scene from the movie Joe Dirt.

[NoClones]

another 'Flori-DUH-ian'!

[BibChr]

Tough kid.

Here's the bright side: he's probably already hit his maximum for sheer terror in this life.

Dan

[Lowell]

These prehistoric creatures are everywhere in FL. If I lived there everyone would have a nice pair of gaiter shoes and a belt!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

A while back the gators were protected from killing off because they were supposedly declining (they might still be, I'm not sure). Now they are everywhere; they move by storm sewers so they show up where unexpected sometimes. Usually when you swim in a lake or canal, they don't bother you. They never did bother us when we were kids swimming in the Loxahatchee or canals around Jupiter in the 60's. But now there's too many of them, and it's time to open up hunting season.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I should have type "they might still be protected, I'm not sure".

[Condor51]

Whew, I though I was going crazy, but no.
It's Deltona , not Eltona
(no offense)

[zook]

When I was a kid spending summers around Mobile and Ft. Morgan, we all used to swim in the bay and its backwaters. All the kids went swimming down at "Snake Hole," a muddy bayou near Chickasaw. I never saw a gator, but my cousins often did. They told me not to try to outrun or outswim them.

Looking back, I guess we were nuts. But that's just the way it was.

[TomGuy]

Proves he's a hard-headed kid. lol Probably was told a dozen times not to swim there.

[stainlessbanner]

Here's a big'un

[EggsAckley]

Kinda makes me wonder if alligators are related to pit bulls.

~</;^)

[RaceBannon]

FUTURE MARINE FIGHTS OFF ALLIGATOR AND WINS

[capt. norm]

There's an old saying about aligators here in Florida that's in the form of a riddle:

"What's the difference between a condom and an aligator?"

Answer: "You don't f*** with an aligator!"

[spetznaz]

Good thing the kid faced an alligator and not a crocodile. Was he swimming in an Australian or African river (which is always a bad idea) he may have met up with one of these crocs, in which case he would have had no chance at all for surviving ....or he would have been so mangled that he would not want to survive. He would definitely not have walked away from the experience with a bandage around his head (think along the lines of grissly entrails floating downstream). I've seen Nile crocodiles tagging Wildebeast (Wildebeasts are approx. the size of a cow), and those crocs are monsters! I once saw one whose head was almost the size of the wildebeast.

Try making boots or a suitcase out of this fella!

[EggsAckley]

AAaarrrrggghhhh!!

[Redcloak]

Tough little guy... A future SEAL perhaps?

[petercooper]

ouch!

[zook]

Kroikies!! (sp?--I'm Aussie impaired)