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Alligator Bites Woman in Back of Pickup

Posted on: Monday, 29 March 2004, 06:00 CST

ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. - A 65-year-old woman is recovering from an encounter with an alligator that bit her as she was sitting in the back of a pickup truck.

Patricia Compton said Wednesday that she had been sitting on an ice chest in the back of the pickup with her feet outstretched to avoid getting wet as the truck slowly moved through deep water in the remote trail in the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area.

Compton and seven family members had just driven through the 3-foot-deep water puddle Saturday when the nearly 10-foot alligator lunged up and clamped down on Compton's ankle while her relatives, aged 4 to 14, watched in horror.

"I thought it was just a log," she said. "Then I saw his head, his teeth on my leg. ... It was vicious."

In one bite, the alligator sliced through the top of her right shoe, cut a 3-inch gash in her ankle and broke her fibula bone, then released its grip.

Compton's husband, Jim, jumped out of the cab, but quickly jumped back in when the alligator charged him.

Patricia Compton underwent surgery at Palms West Hospital and now has the bottom of her leg in a cast. She expects to be released from the hospital on Thursday.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found the alligator covered with scrape marks, and it appeared to have a broken back.

The Comptons don't believe they struck the gator, so it may have been wounded earlier and was lying there, injured and aggressive, said Lt. Chris Sella.

"It was acting aggressively when the investigators found it," Sella said. It was killed on the spot.

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Information from: The Palm Beach Post, http://www.pbpost.com

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