PA Man Dies Days After Cops Kill 18-Foot Snake Strangling Him

FOGELSVILLE, PA — An Upper Macungie Township man has died days after he was found in cardiac arrest with his 18-foot snake wrapped around his neck.

As Pennsylvania Patch previously reported, police were called to the 1400 block of Church Street in Fogelsville on Wednesday. Officers found a man in cardiac arrest with "a snake wrapped around his neck."

The man was unresponsive and lying on the floor. The snake, an unknown species that authorities estimated was more than 15 feet long, had wrapped a significant portion of its midsection around the man's neck, police said.

An officer shot the snake in the head without risking further injuring the man. The shot forced the snake to release the man long enough for police to drag him to safety and provide first aid.

The man, identified by the Lehigh County Coroner's Office as 27-year-old Elliot Senseman, died Sunday at Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest.

The snake, an 18-foot boa constrictor or a similar snake, caused the man to experience an anoxic brain injury, multiple media outlets reported. His brain completely lost oxygen, the coroner’s office said.

Patch has reached out to police and the coroner's office for details and will update when we hear back.

A close relative of Senseman told The Daily Beast that Senseman worked with snakes since he was 10 years old and was experienced in handling the reptiles. He started rescuing snakes about six years ago, taking them in and rehousing them.

“A lot of times the snakes were neglected or mistreated and needed medical care,” the family member told The Daily Beast. “He would provide all of that."

Fogelsville is about 50 miles north of Philadelphia.