A man in Florida fell into a pond behind a bar and later awakened to find out that his arm had been bitten off by an alligator.
23-year-old Jordan Rivera told WBBH-TV that the bathrooms were full at the Banditos bar in Port Charlotte early Sunday morning, so he decided to go out back to relieve himself.
“I just saw a little lake and just went over there and just, you know, take a little pee, what not,” Rivera explained. “Something happened where I either tripped or the ground below me just went down.”
He said he went into the water, and the next thing he remembered is that he awoke in the hospital without his right arm.
“Confusion, I was like ‘Whoa,’ because I just woke up and I was just sitting here. And I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was and I was like, ‘Whoa,’” Rivera continued. “It kind of feels like my arm is just there but not there.”
Very gruesome video of the grievous injury was posted to social media and showed how bystanders jumped in to help the man in shock. They were able to apply a tourniquet and likely saved the man’s life.
“I call them angels that were there that saved his life,” said his mother to WBBH. “The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet, to me, it’s a miracle that he’s here.”
Despite the horrible experience he survived, Rivera has a very positive attitude.
“I didn’t lose my life; I lost an arm. It’s not the end of the world, you know?” Rivera said.
Although his story has captivated many in Florida, some have spread rumors that Rivera was feeding the alligator when he lost his arm. He vehemently denies the rumor.
“That is completely not true,” Rivera added. “They don’t even serve food at that bar, so I couldn’t have even served the gator food.”
Florida officials said they captured the alligator and euthanized the animal, adding that it was measured at ten and a half feet long.
Here’s more about the Florida alligator attack:
Alligator eats man’s arm during attack in Port Charlotte, victim survives to tell his storywww.youtube.com
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