Gator Under Truck Keeps Occupants at Bay

After colliding with a 10-foot alligator in the early morning darkness, two women delivering newspapers in Fort Meade, Florida remained trapped while the injured reptile rocked and swayed their small pickup truck for a nerve-wracking 30 minutes before they were rescued.

Jennifer Maldonado and Aimee Baker started to exit their Chevy S-10 after the 4 a.m. collision deployed the vehicle’s air bag—only to discover the gator wedged beneath the undercarriage.

And the gator wasn’t too pleased about its predicament, either.

The women quickly closed the doors of their truck, phoned 911, and waited—parked in the middle of the highway–for 30 minutes before authorities arrived.

In the interim, the wounded gator thrashed and growled just inches below the two panicked women, shaking the body of the diminutive truck and generally scaring the bejesus out of the two 20-something friends.

“It was grunting and roaring and shaking the whole truck,” said Ms. Maldonado, who was delivering the Tampa Tribune while accompanied by her friend Friday morning.

As they waited for help, the women told the Tribune that traffic drove around them, while one good Samaritan stopped, advising them they were doing the right thing by remaining inside their vehicle.

Responding emergency workers safely led the women away from the scene and backed the truck over the animal.

The angry amphibious reptile was later captured and destroyed, according the Florida Fish and Game Commission.

But the two friends will always share their memories of the morning they were held captive by a snarling alligator.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” Baker said.