A Florida man was hospitalized after an alligator chomped off his hand and forearm as he sought to elude authorities by running into a lake, police said on Thursday.
Jessie Kingsinger, 21, was missing three-quarters of his left arm when he crawled out of the lake in a wooded area behind an apartment complex, said Sergeant Gary Gross, a spokesman for the Lakeland Police Department. RELATED:Man charged with throwing alligator into fast food restaurant He apparently had run into the water as authorities searched for him on Wednesday evening, after his mother asked for help getting him to a medical facility for psychiatric evaluation.
“We expect it had just happened, seconds before he crawled out, otherwise he would have bled out immediately,” Gross said in a telephone interview.
Kingsinger was hospitalized for treatment of his injuries, along with an unspecified psychiatric issue, he said. Florida wildlife officers were searching for the alligator on Thursday.
A contact for Kingsinger could not immediately be reached for comment.
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