“I should have known better.”ĭespite the severity of his injuries, Heim says he hopes the alligator isn’t killed. “I was probably too comfortable diving during mating season,” Heim said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says alligators become more active as their courtship activities begin in April, and as temperatures warm up. He is still taking antibiotics to fight off infection. He spent a day-and-a-half in the hospital and says his swelling has gone down a lot. (I) just could not stop crying and I was thanking God.” “I cried so hard that day for about an hour or two. “The situation really just emotionally came crashing down on me,” he said. READ MORE: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Above 1,400 But he had “a very religious and emotional moment” as he was about to get a CT scan, when he realized how lucky he was to survive. Heim says he joked and made light of what happened when he first got to the hospital.
Heim says he felt really tired and just wanted to go to sleep after the bite. “I was so lucky that I was in a public place and that there were people who I was able to call over,” he said. He says an ex-firefighter at the restaurant got a first aid kit and bandaged his head while others called 911. Heim was underwater for about 45 seconds when the alligator struck.Īfter the initial bites, Heim says he was able to back away and climb back onto the river bank as the alligator lunged at him.
Florida man june 6 1977 free#
He was free diving, without scuba tanks, so he took a few deep breaths and dove down in hopes of finding megalodon teeth in the gravel at the bottom of the river. Heim spent about 10 minutes looking for gators in the water while he put on his wetsuit, but didn’t see anything before he got in the water. Heim says he’d dived in the river several times before and had entered the water at a public spot near a restaurant. I didn’t feel the cutting, I felt a pulling.” “It felt very heavy and it really felt like it was moving very fast,” he told CNN.
The 25-year-old Tampa man thought he’d been hit by a boat propeller until he saw the alligator looking at him. READ MORE: House January 6 Committee Recommends Contempt Charges Against Mark Meadows He also suffered puncture wounds on his hand from an alligator bite. Jeffrey Heim suffered a skull fracture in the attack, which happened last Sunday in Sarasota County. Embrace it.Īlso, make sure to catch Oxygen’s show “Florida Man Murders" from Blumhouse television, which is dedicated to the bizarre and jaw-dropping crimes that come out of the Sunshine State, airing on Saturday, July 10 at 9/8c and 10/9c and Sunday, July 11 at 7/6c and 8/7c on Oxygen.TAMPA (CBSMiami/CNN) – A Florida man is recovering after being bitten in the back of the head by an alligator while looking for prehistoric shark teeth in a river. These Florida Men are your celestial destiny. S o in the spirit of helping you dive deeper into your own psyche, we’re telling you what infamous “Florida Man” headline best describes you, according to the stars.Īre you the Florida Man who calls 911 because a cop is taking too long to write a ticket? The Florida Man who tried to break into prison to hang with his pals ? Don’t fight it - i t was written in the cosmos when you were born. If you’ve ever read a “Florida Man” headline, you know people are at least … confusing.į or centuries, curious souls have turned to the zodiac to learn about themselves. People are complicated - well, OK, fine, maybe not everyone. It’s human nature to want to truly understand yourself, but always an eternal struggle to actually accomplish this feat.