Community Corner
'You Obviously Grew Up Here': Deputy Wrangles Gator From North FL Pool With Bare Hands
Bodyworn camera footage shows a deputy using a pool skimmer and his bare hands to pull a gator from a North Florida backyard pool.
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL — A St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputy called in “to help remove an unexpected guest from a backyard pool in St. Augustine” wrangled a gator with his bare hands, bodyworn camera footage shared to the agency’s Facebook page shows. (Watch the video below.)
The video shows Deputy Nathan Richardson using a pool skimmer to pull the gator from the pull before grabbing the reptile by the neck and then the tail.
“I got ya. You’re fine. I know you’re super mad,” he can be heard saying in the video.
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As he carried the gator, one resident, a woman, said to him, “You go! You obviously grew up here.”
“Florida grown at its finest,” another resident said as he opened the gate to the backyard to let Richardson and the gator out.
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See Also:
- Over 200 Siamese Cats Rescued From Manatee County Home: Officials
- Cat Rescued From Hot Car As Heat Index Hits 102 Degrees: Watch
- Injured Baby Dolphin Rescued In South FL: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
The deputy put the alligator in the back of his patrol car and then thought twice before closing the door.
“You know what? Let me buckle you in,” he said.
The gator was safely relocated to a nearby pond in a non-residential area, the sheriff's office said.
Watch the bodycam footage of the deputy's gator wrangling:
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