DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A man in Daytona Beach was sent to the hospital Saturday after being bitten on the leg by an alligator that was later euthanized, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.
Officers responded at 9:42 p.m. to an address on Champions Drive, where they reported an alligator had bitten the man’s upper thigh.
“My son he is 17, he sometimes brings over friends without permission, so we thought he was trying to sneak somebody in, so I jumped up and headed over and opened the door,” Scot Hollingsworth said.
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Hollingsworth says he is the man that was bitten by an alligator over the weekend.
He tells News 6 however, those were his initial thoughts when checking to see what caused the noise at his front door.
Hollingsworth said as soon as he walked out the front door, “Got my leg clamped on and started shaking really violently, and I hadn’t even turned the lights on yet. And when I looked down I saw kind of a big black mass and my first thought it’s a big dog.”
Hollingsworth was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took the lead in the case, according to police.
He was bitten on the upper thigh and now wears bandages.
“Puncture mark from this side of the mouth on this side, but when he tore he ripped the side off over here at the knee,” Hollingsworth said.
The alligator was located near the front entrance of the house and a FWC trapper was called, according to the update. The trapper euthanized the alligator, police said.
News 6 was there as FWC investigators were following up with Hollingsworth and learned the alligator was 9 feet in length.
Hollingsworth does note his neighborhood is next to the LPGA International Golf Club and seeing wildlife is common, but never this close to homes.
Despite being bitten, he does say that he wishes the alligator could have been spared.
“I worked on a farm growing up and have been out in the wildlife my whole life you know, I love seeing the animals... but not that close, it was a little too close for me,” said Hollingsworth.
News 6 has reached out to the FWC for a statement.
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