Professionals then trapped and euthanized the alligator.
A trip to the bathroom left a Florida man without arms Saturday night.
Jordan Rivera, 23, was at Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte, Fla., late Saturday night. Discouraged by the long line to the bathroom, Rivera told ABC affiliate WZVN he decided to venture to a nearby pond instead.
“I just saw the lake, I’m just going to go there and pee a little bit or whatever,” he said. “Something happened where I tripped…and ended up in the water, and that’s literally the last thing I remember.”
Unfortunately, the pond near where Rivera fell was also inhabited by a ten-foot alligator, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Rivera doesn’t remember the next set of events that brought him to a local hospital, but he was missing his right arm when he woke up.
FWC officials, along with first responders from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and the EMS, responded early Sunday morning to a report of a man with ‘serious injuries’ after being bitten by a alligator, according to the FWC.
“These alligators, I didn’t really understand them until I woke up in the hospital and, ‘Oh, alligator has your arm,'” Rivera said.
Rivera’s mother credits passers-by with saving her son’s life, noticing his body near the pond and rushing to help him.
“I call them the angels who were there and saved his life,” Teresa Rivera told WZVN. “How lucky someone is here with a tourniquet for me is a miracle he’s here.”
After the incident, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hired a professional alligator trapper, who located the 10.5-foot alligator on the same property where Rivera was attacked. Authorities removed the alligator from the pond and euthanized it.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the incident, instead referring questions about the attack to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which continues to investigate the incident.
Asked about online speculation that he might have tried to feed the alligator, prompting the attack, Rivera strongly denied the possibility, adding that the nearby bar does not offer any food he might have fed the alligator. .
Rivera is still recovering in hospital with his arm amputated, but he views the incident with optimism.
“I didn’t lose my life, I lost an arm,” he said. “This is not the end of the world.”