iStockphoto
Recently released drone and body cam video captured police officers using a lasso to wrestle a large alligator into submission after it trespassed into a Central Florida woman’s backyard. The deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) responded to the scene after receiving a call about the alligator hanging out on the woman’s front porch in Clermont.
In video shared by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, two deputies can be seen trying to corral the alligator. At first, the gator takes off from the front porch and runs around to the side of the house trying to escape the police. It then headbutted open a fence gate as it made its way into the home’s backyard. Big mistake. The gator was now trapped.
Next, one of the police officers threw a lasso around the alligator and it performed a “death roll” maneuver. That move allowed the officer to grab it by the tail and neck then sit on it. He then grabbed the gator around the face, holding its jaws shut while another policeman wrapped tape around them. The video then cuts to them loading the alligator into the back of one of the LCSO SUVs. That done, the cops dapped up one of the local residents and went on with their day.
“Dispatch received a call from a woman stating that there was an alligator on her front porch area,” the Lake County Sheriff’s Office wrote in the description to the video, for which they added some music to give it just the right ambiance. “Deputies responded to capture and safely relocate the surprise visitor. Not our first call like this… but it’s always a Florida classic!”
Being a deputy in the state of Florida is much different than in much of the rest of the United States. Many receive some basic training and are certified in how to capture alligators from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“Approaching the alligator from behind, it’s it can be dangerous,” Sanibel police officer Chris Chiappy, who was trained by the Commission, told WINK News last year. “When we get on top of the alligator, that’s when we go ahead and maintain control of the head and we move on to closing the jaw, picking up the jaw while it’s closed, and taping its mouth.”