‘He could have killed you’: 911 audio released of alligator attack in Sun City
By Emma Hamilton
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SUN CITY HILTON HEAD, South Carolina (WJCL) — WJCL 22 News has obtained the 911 call made by a Sun City woman after an alligator attacked her husband.
That 84-year-old man is recovering. His wife said to the operator, “My husband’s just been attacked by an alligator. He’s bleeding everywhere. His leg is a mess.”
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the man was in his backyard spreading mulch when the gator came from behind and bit him. In the 911 call, his wife said, “he had his arm in his mouth and I poked the alligator in the eye.” She continued, “he’s got a horrible, horrible leg wound.”
His wife told deputies she acted fast, grabbing a tomato stake and hitting the alligator in the eyes and head until it finally let go. “He’s got a contusion on his head and his arm. His arm that the alligator had his mouth around,” his wife told 911 operators.
The man was treated at the scene before being rushed to the hospital. The Department of Natural Resources later captured and euthanized the alligator, calling it “very aggressive.” It’s a chilling reminder of how quickly a predator can strike, especially when hidden in plain sight.
“You will not know that they could be a 12-foot gator. You would not know he’s there and they will wait for that deer, that raccoon, to be looking the other way and they ambush. That’s exactly what happened,” an alligator expert told WJCL 22 News.
The alligator’s silent approach caught the couple off guard. At the end of the 911 audio, you can overhear the wife telling her husband, “he could have killed you.”
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