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State contracted trappers, from left, Scott Barbon, Dallas Haynie and John Wilson, wearing raincoat, wrestle with an alligator. JIM REED/Tribune photo
By BILLY TOWNSEND
The Tampa Tribune
LAKELAND - A Polk County man was severely mauled by an alligator early Wednesday morning, suffering a partially amputated left arm and “major trauma” to left upper leg, the Polk Sheriff’s Office reported.
Apgar Driver’s License Photo
But he would likely be dead if not for the heroism of four Polk sheriff’s deputies, who waded into the dark, muddy shallows of Lake Parker and wrestled 45-year-old Adrian Apgar away from the gator.
The deputies are: Michael Parker, Billy Osborne, David Clements and Sergeant Andrew Williams. All of them emerged from the water unhurt.
About 12:30 p.m., contract trappers pulled an 11-foot, 8-inch alligator from Lake Parker, near the site of the attack.
Wildlife officer Gary Morse said there’s no way to know for certain yet if this alligator attacked Apgar. But circumstances suggest there’s a good chance of that. And the trappers won’t be removing any other alligators, although there are others in the area.
Said one trapper, John Wilson, “There’s a pretty good chance [it’s the same alligator]. He’s a big gator and still in the area. There’s a couple of other gators out there, but he took both baits [set out for trapping] and was still in the eating mode, where other gators would be slowing down this year.”
The attack occurred about 4 a.m., near a small county park on the eastern side of Lake Parker, according to the sheriff’s office and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is handling the investigation. Lake Parker is one of Polk County’s largest lakes.
What prompted the alligator attack is still unclear.
The sheriff’s office got involved about 4 a.m., when dispatchers received multiple calls from neighbors reporting that a man was yelling for help. When the deputies arrived, Apgar was still calling for help, shouting that an alligator was attacking him, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Donna Wood.
Deputies immediately entered the water and began to search for the man who was in the grasp of an alligator, Wood reported. When they found him, about 40-feet from shore, the deputies pulled Apgar free of the alligator and made their way back to the dry land, where an ambulance was waiting to transport him to Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
“The very dark conditions and risk of injuring the victim made shooting the alligator impossible, leaving deputies to contend with their own safety after becoming exhausted in waist deep mud,” Wood said in a news release.
Apgar was transported to LMRC in critical condition with an apparent broken right arm, a partially amputated left arm and major trauma to his left upper leg.
Stay with TBO.com for developments.
News Channel 8 reporter Jennifer Leigh and Tribune photographer Jim Reed contributed to this report.
The man admitted to being on drugs when the police rescued him. Not only that, but he was naked. They played a sound clip on the radio with the Pasco county sheriff stating this.
The people who say police officers don’t do their jobs and “harass” others have probably been arrested before, or know someone who has. They’re wrong, and until they spend a day with an officer to see what crap he/she puts up with, those people have no room to talk. Imagine being at work 12-hours a day seeing nothing but scum… My husband is an officer and just hearing a tiny percentage of what he sees every day makes me thankful for people like him.
This is a sad day for the man who had the encounter, moreso for his friends and family. I can’t believe some of the inane comments people make, but the fruit never falls far from the tree.
Alligators are a know risk but there is another not so well know and just as deadly. You can’t see it. It lies dormant, until stirred up, in the mud on the bottom. It is a species of amoeba. It gets into your body via mucous membranes (eyes and nose usually) and menders to the brain. It sits there for a few days and then you stroke out and drop dead. There is no warning and after the autopsy confirms what happened it’s too late. And, then, there is vibrio vulnificans, but that’s another story for another day.
ANY OFFICER WHO IS WILLING TO PUT ON A UNIFORM AND BE ON CALL TO KEEP US LAW ABIDING CITIZENS SAFE IS A HERO. ANY ONE WHO CRITICIZES LAW INFORCEMENT AS A WHOLE HAS NEVER HAD A LOVED ONE THAT DOES THAT JOB EVERY DAY AND PRAYS THEY MAKE IT HOME EVERY NIGHT. BECAUSE SOME DO NOT. I APPRECIATE ALL OUR OFFICERS HERE IN FLORIDA.
My husband grew up with this man. We haven’t seen him in many years but he is still a friend, just the same. It doesn’t matter now why he was at the lake at 4AM, what matters is that he is in extremely critical condition and that both he and his family are in need of positive thoughts and prayers. I would hope that people would respect the family enough to not post items attacking Adrian as the family might read it. I think they are all having a rough enough time right now, don’t you?
Thanks to the deputies who saved him. They are heroes in my eyes.
To Adrian and his family, our prayers are with you.
These POLK deputies are absolute heros. I doubt we would ever see that from TPD or HCSO ~ those guys are too busy getting lap dances and massages.
As far as the victim goes, maybe he will stop the crack now.
Response for the Yankee comment. Did you notice the guy was from Florida? Not New York, NJ, etc. Even a skier from Colorado that loves to visit Florida and see all the alligators knows not to fish in a lake in Florida at 4am.
I am so glad there are no alligators where i live except in the zoo!
If you ask me, alligators and crocs are the kings of the beasts and deserve to be respected. The gotor must have been hungry, and that is a wild animal for you. I am glad the officers were so heroic in recuing the man…
I agree that the Yankee’s don’t understand that the Gators were here long before they moved down from the snow. Don’t blame the Gator cause he don’t like Yankee’s as much as the true Floridians that are truly from this state and not a transplanted snow bird that complains cause things are not the way it is up north. If you don’t like the Gators, then move back to your frozen world of wonder where all of the Yankees think that southern folks are goobers and don’t know anything. At least we know to stay away from a Gator and we can survive the Florida Waters.
If florida wasnt full of yankees and developers from the north real southern people might have a better relation with gators yankees shouldnt come down here and think everything is perfect after all they are embarking on gator territory , and when an attack happens they kill the gator people should get off their territory , gators arent a nuisance to us were a nuisance to them
Police deserve the criticism they get, especially in Florida. They bring it on themselves with their abuse.
CRAGEY!THATS COOL!
There goes them Polk County Boys at it again! Thank you for being so heroic and brave. No fear shown against man or beast! The LPD impresses me more and more.
I’m ashamed to be from Lakeland since it is the Meth Capitol of the United States however; I’m starting to feel a little better about it knowing that these are the guys that are attempting to make Lakeland a better place.
I’m always amazed (and sometimes amused) at the people who just can’t resist taking cheap shots at the police. Harrassing people? I’ll bet the overwhelming majority of respectful, law-abiding citizens out there have never been “harrassed” by the cops. Ignoring domestic violence? That’ll come as a surprise to all the people that get arrested in this town for it. If you’re a victim of domestic violence and the cops ignored it, give David Gee or Steve Hogue a call—I’ll bet they’d like to hear from you. How’d you like to risk your life to save some irresponsible idiot from an attacking alligator only to read snide remarks online?
The person from Riverview needs to get a life and start respecting law enforcement instead of tearing them down. For the pay they receive for the crap they put up with daily, you should be ashamed.
Thanks to PCSO, the shined again in the midst of adversity.
Proud to a polk county resident. We got the best coverage of officers. They would give there life for you as we well know after the last few months. Please guys be carefull as your familys and friends care deeply for you. Also be good to yourself kk?
Good Luck in all you do . Thanks from this house to you and your’s. BJ
I am also glad it did’nt happen in Pasco county because our officers have other things to do besides save lives.
Such as busting into unlicensed message parlors and making sure the strippers have at least some clothing on. And ignoring domestic violence.
I also say leave the gators alone and that includes the morons who feed them. When you feed gators they look at you like food. If it were a gator who had not been fed by people chances are the gator would have swam like hell to get away from him.
And you don’t have to be drunk to be attacked by a gator. So don’t assume it.
I agree with Jill. My father has fished all of my life and leaves every time before day break, usually around4-4:30. There is also a thing called night fishing. Thank god this man is okay and the police actually helped somebody instead of harassing people.
It’s funny how you instantly assume he was drunk. If you have lived in florida long enough, you would realize that many people are avid fisherman and leave very early to hit the waters. Instead of thinking the worse, you may consider just saying a little prayer for his recovery.
Did anybody ask this guy what the heck he was doing in the lake at 4:00 in the morning? Drunk, I’ll bet. Sounds like the gator has more upstairs than he does.
JUST WONDERING,WHAT WAS THIS MAN DOING IN A LAKE AT 4AM?
It is awesome that these four officers were so ready to jump in regardless of the danger to themselves to help this man. There is no telling how many victims there might have been. Wonderful job. I hope the gentleman they rescued will be alright, especially since his wounds are already extensive. My prayers are with you one and all.
People shouldn’t be surprised that a gator, who is in his natural habitat and living his life the only way he knows, is lashing out on invaders. Why do the gators need to be slaughtered when people know better than to enter a body of water KNOWING they have the chance of being attacked? Obviously there were gators evident just by looking at the lake, so even though this happened and I feel sorry for the man, it doesn’t mean it’s time to just slaughter all the alligators they find. Leave them alone. And yes, I would feel the same way if something happened to someone close to me.
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Posted by josh lile, fort meade, polk county fla on 11/30 at 07:03 PM
chris chmura or wutever i do know he was a southern floridian such as myself but like i said everythang down here aint perfect and the north obviously aint perfect cause yankess floded florida like hurrican katrina did new orleans oh yeah you dont know much bout hurricanes