A man who inexplicably jumped into a pit at an alligator farm in Florida was left with “chomp marks” after being bitten.
The man, later identified as Brandon Hatfield, spent around four hours in the crocodile exhibit at St. Augustine Alligator Farm after breaking in, according to Action News Jax.
Surveillance footage showed Hatfield jumping into the pit multiple times from a 20-foot roof and swimming around the pond with the crocodiles.
The park wasn’t open at the time.
When workers arrived on Nov. 6, they saw signs of a break-in and found a pair of shorts and rubber Crocs floating in the pit. Soon they found a lot of blood at the top of the zipline platform, which overlooks the pit.
#BREAKING: I’ve obtained surveillance footage of #FloridaMan in St. Augustine Alligator farm in crocodile exhibit. @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews pic.twitter.com/FWXLC6CCzk
— Ryan Nelson (@RyanANJax) November 6, 2018
Police officers who responded to the park told workers they had already arrested Hatfield, who told them he had been bitten by an alligator.
“He … took a jump into a pond infested with big crocodiles,” St. Augustine Police Department spokeswoman Cecilia Aiple told the St. Augustine Record. ”When they made contact with him, he claimed he had been bitten by an alligator. And when the vandalism call came in, we put two and two together.”
Surveillance footage shows a 9-foot crocodile biting Hatfield but he was eventually able to escape.
#FloridaMan https://t.co/VuS8z8u20M
— ???? ?????????? (@JoeyMcAllister) November 6, 2018
First Time
“In our 125-year history, this is the first time anyone has tried to go swimming with the crocodiles,” Alligator Farm Director John Brueggen noted.
“I have a hard time justifying in my mind what I see, this guy seemingly staggering down some of the boardwalks but nimble enough to go over a 10-foot tall fence with barbed wire. He climbed out and leapt in again like he was having fun at somebody’s swim park.”
He was located in a nearby neighborhood wearing only boxers.
Neighbors told Action News Hatfield had “chomp marks” on his foot from where the croc bit him. Jeff Black found the man in his yard and his wife called the police.
“A little weird to see somebody that early in just boxers going over your wall into your property,” he said. “He kept saying. ‘I was held hostage in a pool with gators.'”
Hatfield apparently told officers that he was not in the park, but had encountered an old man, who “had the alligator on a leash and he was surrounded by all these baby alligators in the old man’s garage.”
He said “the old man was feeding him to his alligators” and “began forcing him to drink this Black concoction.”
Hatfield was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries and was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and probation violation.
