A sheriff’s deputy rescued an alligator from a backyard pool with his bare hands, impressing onlookers who called him, “Florida grown at its finest!'
Just over a week ago, on July 25, Deputy Nathan Richardson from St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office kicked out an “unexpected guest” lounging in the pool of a St. Augustine home.
Police body camera video showed Richardson using a pool skimmer to guide the small gator to the edge of the pool before he grabbed it by the neck.
The gator thrashed in the water before getting picked up and even managed to escape and tried to make a run for it on the deck before Richardson grabbed it again a few seconds later.
“I gotcha. You’re fine,” the deputy reassured the hissing gator. “I know. You’re super mad.”
As Richardson picked the gator up, one hand on its neck and the other holding its tail, the group of people at the house can be heard saying, “You go” and “Wow.”
One of the onlookers joked, “Obviously, you grew up here.” And it’s true. The sheriff’s office confirmed to The Independent Richardson is a Florida native.
Upon leaving the home, someone can be heard saying, “Florida grown at its finest!”
Richardson is then filmed holding the gator by its tail while opening his patrol car to load it into the back seat.
For extra safety, the deputy buckled the gator into its seat. Luckily for the gator, its trespassing adventure did not result in a ride to the station but to a nearby pond.
“The alligator wasn’t happy its pool time was over, or about the ride in the patrol car, but it was buckled in and safely relocated to a nearby pond by Deputy Richardson,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
This wasn’t Richardson’s first encounter with a gator, the sheriff’s office told The Independent, although they weren’t sure how many he had caught before.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says massive human population growth in the state, paired with a demand for waterfront homes and increasingly popular water-related activities, can cause more frequent human interactions with alligators.
The commission advises people to never feed the gators and to keep their distance if they see one. People should also only swim in designated swimming areas during the day and keep their pets on a leash and away from the water.
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