A heroic Florida man managed to save his friend from an 11-foot alligator by running over it at high speed after it grabbed his leg and nearly dragged him into a lake.
Rick Fingeret was walking his two dogs by the lake on Quarry Drive in Collier County on Friday night when the monstrous reptile emerged from the water, grabbed his legs and began dragging him into the depths.
His neighbor Walter Rudder was driving down the road when the horrific incident took place on Friday night.
He told local media: “I was driving and we saw a man lying on the ground, waving his arm. We stopped, I got out of the car and saw that an alligator had him by the leg.
Thinking quickly, Walter ran over the alligator with his car, forcing him to let go of Rick’s legs: ‘We backed the car up and I drove over the alligator. He broke free, let go of his leg, and ran toward the pond. So [my wife] Paula, called 911.
Rick Fingeret and Walter Rudder (pictured) were involved in the terrifying incident.
Rick Fingeret was walking his two dogs by the lake on Quarry Drive in Collier County.
Rick told a reporter that he stuck his fingers in the alligator’s eyes and nose and kicked it several times to free itself.
Walter added: “I got out of the car, took off my shirt and wrapped it around his wound, which was near his thigh. The second wound was in the calf area. “He had two large dogs, which were labs, with him.
‘I took a strap off one of the labs, made a tourniquet and waited for the paramedic to arrive. “They finally came, which was fantastic, they did a wonderful job and that’s what happened.”
Rick, who is currently recovering in the hospital and hopes to be released soon, said his two Labradors never left him throughout the entire ordeal.
Floridians have been forced to deal with increasing alligator attacks in recent months, and experts are warning residents that as mating season approaches, they may become more aggressive and less fearful of humans.
Rick (pictured at a previous event) told a reporter that he forced his fingers into the alligator’s eyes and nose and kicked it several times to free himself.
Experts have warned residents that as mating season approaches, alligators may become more aggressive and less fearful of humans.
The attack took place on Quarry Drive in Collier County.
On Sunday, a Florida MMA fighter used his bare hands to subdue an eight-foot alligator that was crawling through the streets of Jacksonville’s north side.
Mike Dragich, 34, known as the ‘Blue Collar Brawler,’ was at a nearby hockey game with his family when he received a disturbing call from an alligator from the sheriff’s department.
Dragich, a licensed alligator hunter and military veteran, did not have his trapping equipment with him on the game, but answered the call anyway and drove to a local shopping plaza, where he saw the snarling creature.
Video taken at the scene shows the alligator lumbering across the road as the trapper walks behind him in pursuit.
Dragich could be seen lurking behind the alligator before jumping onto its back and pressing down on its neck. The furious alligator’s jaws snapped open and he seemed to hiss.
The veteran then pressed the alligator’s head down, applying great force until the creature’s snout was flat on the ground.
The number of attacks in Florida has increased 66 percent in recent years, from six a year between 1971 and 1986, to 10 a year between 1987 and 2017.
The death of Sabrina Peckham, a homeless Florida woman, is the latest in a series of alligator attacks across the United States this year.
Alligator encounters and attacks have increased in recent years throughout the United States, especially in Florida and South Carolina.
Dragich lifted the alligator’s jaws and skillfully closed its mouth with a special tape.
After subduing the 8-foot giant, the ‘Blue Collar Brawler’ picked up the alligator and marched down the road with the creature in his arms.
Although there has been an increase in some areas, alligator attacks in the US remain relatively rare and only a fraction of them are fatal.
Florida is known to be the home of alligators: over the past 10 years it has averaged eight fatal bites per year.
However, the number of attacks has increased by 66 percent in recent years, from six a year between 1971 and 1986 to 10 a year between 1987 and 2017.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) maintains a record of “unprovoked bite incidents”: between 1948 and November 2021, there were only 442 attacks, 26 of which resulted in human deaths.
303 people suffered serious injuries and 139 suffered minor injuries during this period.
The chance of a Floridian being seriously injured as a result of an unprovoked attack is approximately one in 3.1 million, according to the FWC.
Experts say the recent increase is due to a statewide push in recent decades to boost construction and population developments, causing an inevitable increase in interactions between people and alligators.