“When I felt the teeth, I immediately knew,” Juan Carlos La Verde told a news outlet of the encounter with an alligator.
“With the right stroke, all I felt was scales, teeth and then right there I’m like OK,” he also told the news outlet of the encounter. “So, what I think I did, what I felt like I did, was that I immediately tried to open its jaws because I knew I was in a gator.
“When I felt the teeth, I immediately knew, and then as I opened it I knew that I either turned it or it turned me, but it was confused just as I was confused, and then it just let go.” La Verde found a way to swim to the dock and get himself out of the water before a Good Samaritan rushed him to the hospital. He even called 911 on his own to explain what happened.
La Verde had serious injuries to his face and head. He required six-hour surgery at Tampa General Hospital to repair and reconstruct damage to his skull and head, according to a GoFundMe set up for him.The City of Oldsmar firefighter was filming a promotional video of himself swimming in the lake at the time of the attack as he was preparing for an upcoming race, the GoFundMe post details.
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