Man Runs into Lake to Escape Police an Gets an Unexpected Twist

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**Frazzled**

Twist being alligator death roll baby. From the "I should have just stopped when the police said freeze" files:

http://kxan.com/2016/05/13/man-runs-into-lake-to-escape-cops-gator-bites-off-his-forearm/

LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — A man who ran into a Lakeland lake to escape from police had three quarters of his arm bitten off by an alligator in the lake, police said on Thursday.

Officers responded to a home on Long Lake Circle at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday after receiving a call about a disturbance. A Lakeland Police Department spokesperson said that a mother called and said her son, age, 21, needed psychological help and was having an episode at the time.

According to the man’s family, he suffers from PTSD. The man had gone into a wooded area behind their apartment and his mother was concerned for his safety. She said that if her son was found, she wanted him taken into custody under the Baker Act law.

Lakeland police officers responded and requested that the Polk County Sheriff’s Office helicopter and a bloodhound help search the area.

The man called once from his cell phone and said he was near Combee Road at a dealership. At 9:21 p.m. officers located a witness who said they saw him running in the area.

Scott Maskal lives at the Landings Apartment complex in Lakeland. Wednesday night Maskal and his girlfriend saw what appeared to be two men fighting.

“We saw two guys that were running toward the lake,” said Maskal.

Police were arriving on scene and Maskal was seeing the end of a family problem. Maskal went to the lake behind the apartments and saw a man on the ground near the water.

“I guess he tried to walk through the lake to get away from the cops and that’s when the gator must have gotten him and clean took his hand right off and the cops were all looking for the gator,” said Maskal.

The victim is related to Mike Taylor who says the victim was fighting with his own mother.

“It was getting to the point she said, I’m going to have to call the cops and have them come out here and talk to you and calm you down,” said Taylor.

When police arrived, the victim fled into the lake. At 9:52 p.m., the sheriff’s office helicopter spotted the man lying on the ground at 5026 Long Lake Circle. He told deputies he knew law enforcement was looking for him so he swam back across the lake to this location. A sign was posted where he exited the lake that read “Caution! Alligators frequent this area!”

“The cops were looking for him and it got pretty rough before he left and next thing I know, probably about 45 minutes later, I got a text from my wife saying I hear screaming out here,” said Taylor.

He ran to the lake and saw his the victim on the ground.

“My neighbor was out here saying are you okay? What’s going on? Is everything all right? I say, is that you? He says, yeah. He says a gator got me,” said Taylor

Taylor couldn’t believe what he saw next.

“I said, what’s wrong man? He says, my hand hurts. I said which hand is it? He lifts it up and there is no hand there at all,” said Taylor.

Police say the man was missing approximately three quarters of his left forearm. EMS responded to the scene and transported him to Lakeland Regional Health Center. The man was also placed under the Baker Act due to his condition. There are no criminal charges pending at this time against him. The victim is not charged with a crime.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was notified and officers will follow-up on the alligator bite incident.

**Ouze**

What an exceedingly Florida story in all ways.

Did police ever find the arm, or are they stumped?

**streamdragon**

Again? Wasn't there a burglar recently that died hiding from the cops in an alligator infested lake?

**cuda1179**

Yes, that story was from a couple months ago. If I remember correctly the guy hid behind a bush beside the water hazard at a golf course. the Gator snuck up behind him and drug him into the water.

**Jihadin**

Serious bite out of crime

**Frazzled**

I think we all should feel sorry for the guy, laying there like that. Couldn't someone just give him a hand?

**Jihadin**

I've two in use....."golf clapping"

**kronk**

"According to the man’s family, he suffers from PTSD"

Hopefully this isn't a returned soldier that isn't getting the care he needs.

**Jihadin**

21 at the time.

18 to go to basic and then to AITso hitting 19
looking about 19 to be deployed
but
PCS to unit one has a one year stabilization so hitting or close to 20
One year Tour take him to 21
.....
doesn't add up

**kronk**

Ah. Then just a garden variety nutter!

Carry on!

**Ouze**

This is hands down the best story of the morning.

**Frazzled**

This is what happens when you try to outrun the long arm of the law.

**Jihadin**

Frazzled wrote:
This is what happens when you try to outrun the long arm of the law.

Shows to you the two Laws of the land. Human laws and Nature laws. Nature wins

**Frazzled**

"I don't know why they keep saying they taste like ham. To me it tastes like chicken!"
-Bob the Gator

**Jihadin**

Raw human....saminella(sp).....raw chicken saminella(sp)....Gator..dinosaur constitution.

**Ouze**

Well, now that he's being evaluated, he should be in safe hands.

**Frazzled**

Jihadin wrote:
Raw human....saminella(sp).....raw chicken saminella(sp)....Gator..dinosaur constitution.

interesting fact but gators have one of the best immune systems in the business. They have really aggressive antibody systems IIRC. This is why you will often see them with wounds and lost limbs that would take out other animals, especially in the bacterial utopia they normally inhabit.

**Jihadin**

Ouze wrote:
Well, now that he's being evaluated, he should be in safe hands.

No pinky promise?

**jreilly89**

Florida!!

Every time I see the gator deaths, most of them result from stupidity. Only a couple are usually sad/regrettable.

**Monkey Tamer**

Next headline: police brutally allowed gator to eat man for fleeing.

**Spinner**

Maybe deep down, we should all be afraid of any apex predator that lived through the K-T extinction. Physically unchanged for a hundred million years, because it's the perfect killing machine. A half ton of cold-blooded fury, the bite force of 10,000 Newtons, and stomach acid so strong it can dissolve bones and hooves!

Cyril.

**Jihadin**

Monkey Tamer wrote:
Next headline: police brutally allowed gator to eat man for fleeing.

Actually I think they have to hunt the gator down being it has acquired taste for human flesh

**2BlackJack1**

'Unexpected plot twist' seems a little... light, for the news at hand.

**the Signless**

I've got to hand it to you people, the level of humour in this thread. . . reading it was PUNishing.

Jihadin wrote:
Monkey Tamer wrote:
Next headline: police brutally allowed gator to eat man for fleeing.

Actually I think they have to hunt the gator down being it has acquired taste for human flesh

Don't knock it til you've tried it.

**Col. Dash**

Seems pretty normal for us here in FL. Generally speaking there are areas you swim in and areas you do not, for really good reasons. People encounter them here far more than is reported. That said this running from the cops and thinking to swim across the lake thing happens several times a year for some reason but no one ever learns.

I had the crap scared out of me some years back snorkeling as soon as a park opened before anyone else was there to stir up the water. 20 feet down near a spring I look up to surface to make sure I wasn't going to hit a rock and theres a 12 foot gator directly above me just checking out who was in the water this early in the morning. I somehow got a 2nd wind and swan way out behind it and quickly went to shore where a game warden was laughing his ass off and told the gator is always near the swimming area, he just hides during the day in a roped off area. (Alexander Springs if you want to visit, cool spring)

**JohnHwangDD**

Monkey Tamer wrote:
Next headline: police brutally allowed gator to eat man for fleeing.

Recently, a bunch of cops left some girls to drown because they weren't going into gator-infested water.

**Jihadin**

JohnHwangDD wrote:
Monkey Tamer wrote:
Next headline: police brutally allowed gator to eat man for fleeing.

Recently, a bunch of cops left some girls to drown because they weren't going into gator-infested water.

I be throwing a rope

**Ahtman**

The alligator is ok though, right?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

JohnHwangDD wrote:
Recently, a bunch of cops left some girls to drown because they weren't going into gator-infested water.

No, recently a story of cops letting girls drown was going around, but the evidence is murky at best. It really depends on which story you read and want to believe. The only known facts are that the girls stole a car from a mall, tried to outrun the police, and went flying into a swamp. It is at that point some say that they let them drown and others say they tried to help them but being at night and in a swamp they had trouble getting to them.

**JohnHwangDD**

They left the girls to die by drowning.

Which is what they should have done.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

**Ouze**

JohnHwangDD wrote:
Monkey Tamer wrote:
Next headline: police brutally allowed gator to eat man for fleeing.

Recently, a bunch of cops left some girls to drown because they weren't going into gator-infested water.

If this is the story I think it was, then the cops actually did attempt a water rescue and had to stop almost immediately because they realized they would drown - they already had divers on the way.

This was released on Facebook with all references to this removed, saying "the cops let the girls drown and just watched". There was subsequent footage that showed the cops walking by a cruiser and they had clearly removed at least some equipment and clothing in between arriving, and the arrival of the divers.

While there is no footage of them actually wading in, Occam's razor shows a pretty clear choice in between "The cops partially undressed and waded in, and realized they couldn't save them" and "The cops watched them die, did nothing, and then decided to partially strip and walk in front of a recording cruiser a few times in case anyone accused them of not trying enough later".

Perhaps I'm naive, but I have a hard time believing even the most corrupt, dirtiest cop in the country could watch 3 teenage girls plunge into a lake, hear their screams as the car submerged and just watch.