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Main Page Alligator Chomps on Florida Deputy
(Click here to view the original thread on the MassCops Message Board)

Posted by: kwflatbed

DELTONA, Fla. --
A sheriff's deputy was hospitalized after he was attacked and bitten by an aggressive 8-foot alligator that was menacing a Central Florida apartment complex.
Deputy Keith Baughman, 39, responded to calls of a large alligator loose in the parking lot of the Brightside Apartments located on Caribbean Street late Thursday.
Baughman and other deputies responded and found the alligator roaming the area.
The sheriff's office said the alligator lashed out and bit Baughman several times. However, witnesses said the deputy threw a towel on the alligator, jumped on its back and tried to wrestle it.
Baughman was thrown off the back and then bitten, witnesses said.
"His pants ripped up and blood was gushing out and everything," witness Carlos Martinez said. "He started limping away and the alligator was laughing at him. The dude then shot it twice in the head."
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said a second officer, Deputy Jason Stickles, 27, shot the alligator repeatedly.
"I said, 'Don't shoot it,'" witness Jasmin Harris said. "Just wait until the animal people come out. I don't know why they shot it in the first place. They shouldn't have jumped on it. That wasn't their job."
The alligator was hit but did not die and continued to roam the apartment complex.
A trapper eventually came out and killed the animal with a bang stick.
Baughman was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital with injuries to his thigh and knee.

Story From: local6.com

Posted by: kwflatbed

Deputy’s gator wrestling violated policy

Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

VOLUSIA COUNTY---A deputy sheriff violated department policy when he tried to wrestle an alligator in a Deltona apartment-complex parking lot. Deputy Sheriff Keith Baughman, 39, was bitten on the left leg Thursday night in the parking lot of Brightside Apartments on Caribbean Street in Deltona. He was in stable condition Friday at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach.

The first deputy on the scene followed procedure and called for a licensed trapper, said sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught. When Baughman arrived, "he decided to try to handle the alligator," he said.
After placing a towel over the 8-foot gator's head, Baughman got the on animal's back, Haught said. The alligator was able to throw him off and bit him. At that point, Deputy Jason Stickels fired several shots that did not kill the gator, Haught said. A trapper removed the alligator and killed it.
Baughman does not face any serious discipline because of his actions, but there likely will be a supervisor's review, Haught said. "It was just a bad decision, that's all." Law-enforcement officers who encounter a problem alligator should not hesitate to use their guns to kill it, state wildlife officials said Friday.
"The best thing to do is to leave them alone," said Joy Hill, spokeswoman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In some cases, officers can lasso a gator and tie it to a tree until wildlife officers or trappers can arrive to deal with it, she said.

Wire Service

Posted by: Tuna

That alligator better be a set of luggage and some shoes.

Posted by: Grasshopper

This remind anyone of Elvis from miami vice?

Sonny Crockett: Hey Tubbs, you ever consider a career in southern law enforcement?

Ricardo Tubbs: [meets Elvis the alligator] Hey get him away from me man! I don't even like alligator shoes!

Posted by: j809

That and big ass bugs is why I don't live in FL.

Posted by: PearlOnyx

I'm not sure what makes guys think that they can mess with the alligators. Call out FWC, they will call a trapper, and you wait. Just heard a guy on the radio the other day "Yeah, I'm going to see if I can stop it..." I think it's part of that superhero complex that some of us have.

Posted by: Delta784

Quote:

Originally Posted by PearlOnyx

I'm not sure what makes guys think that they can mess with the alligators. Call out FWC, they will call a trapper, and you wait. Just heard a guy on the radio the other day "Yeah, I'm going to see if I can stop it..." I think it's part of that superhero complex that some of us have.

I consider it above & beyond when I have to deal with a rabid skunk or raccoon, never mind an alligator.

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