A 34-year-old firefighter named JC La Verde was left badly injured but alive after a savage battle with a massive alligator in Lake Thonotosassa, Florida.
The encounter between the man and the beast occurred as La Verde was swimming in the lake while his work colleague was filming him from a drone for an adventure race promotional video, and ended up running into an alligator that was swimming in the opposite direction.
As La Verde told Sky News, he was unable to see the creature when he collided with it.
"I was unable to see it (the alligator). I hit it directly with my head. It chopped me on my head, my scapula (shoulder blade), and my upper torso," he recalled.
Warning: the following content is graphic!
As the alligator crunched down, puncturing the man’s skull and destroying his jaw, La Verde said he realized at the time that he had to “get out of the situation” and that he “had to act.”
"So I was in its mouth. I was grabbing it with both hands, I was grabbing its teeth, and with my right hand I was also grabbing some of its tongue. I know I felt gums which were squashy and hard," he said.
Eventually, the creature released La Verde because, as the man himself has explained, he “didn't become submissive” and instead grabbed the alligator’s snout and started “playing” with the inside of its mouth.
As La Verde got to the shore, some bystanders tended to him before an ambulance arrived to take him to a hospital, where he spent 10 days after undergoing face and jaw reconstruction surgery and a craniotomy.
According to the media outlet, the alligator was likely trying to protect its nest that was apparently located close by.