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Alligator's jaws close around swimmer's head
By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer DUNNELLON -- Frank Dotson and his two dogs were enjoying their nightly swim in the Withlacoochee River on Monday when a huge alligator came out of nowhere. In an instant, Dotson, 69, was fighting for his life. The gator chomped down on Dotson's head, severely damaging the right side of his face and severing his ear. Somehow, Dotson managed to remove his head from the gator's jaws, break free and swim to shore. Dotson climbed up the bank and hiked through a patch of woods, en route to his home. "It was just terrible," said neighbor Jerry Blair, 18, who heard Dotson's feeble cries for help and came to his aid. "I've never seen so much blood. He told me he was swimming and then said, 'Something jumped out of the water and bit me.' " Blair called 911, then guided the unsteady Dotson to a chair on the front porch. Another neighbor wrapped a towel around Dotson's head. Dotson remained awake and alert as emergency medical technicians arrived about 30 minutes after the 6 p.m. attack.
Dotson was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, where his medical condition was upgraded to fair by Tuesday evening, a spokesperson said. A retired fifth-grade teacher at Yankeetown School in Levy County, Dotson lived alone. His closest relative is a nephew who lives in another state, and he showed up at the hospital Tuesday, said TGH spokeswoman Ellen Fiss. A trapper working for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hooked and killed three alligators Monday night and early Tuesday near the site of the attack. One of the gators was 11 feet long. The other two were 9 feet and 71/2 feet. Officials said they have no way to determine whether any of those alligators were responsible for the attack. "A necropsy wouldn't really help, since there are no missing limbs or body tissue from the victim to search for," said Lt. Joy Hill, a conservation commission spokeswoman. "But we took out three large alligators from the area where the attack occurred, and the chances are good that one of them was the one that bit Mr. Dotson." Dotson was attacked at a popular swimming area where a railroad trestle once stood. There are no warning signs about alligators. Dotson told Blair he was swimming near the south bank when the gator attacked. Including Monday's attack, some 318 alligator attacks on humans have been recorded since the Fish and Wildlife Commission started keeping records in 1948. Of these, 12 were fatal. Dotson was the seventh person attacked in Florida this year. The Withlacoochee, a tea-colored river that borders Marion and Citrus counties, is loaded with alligators. Many of Dotson's neighbors had warned him about swimming in that area. They said he would shrug off their concerns, citing his history of swimming there the past 15 years. "After seeing all the gators we've seen in the water, there's no way I'd ever go swimming there," said Pat McJunkin, 59, who lives a few doors away from Dotson on River Drive in Marion County. Hill of the Fish and Wildlife Commission said Dotson increased the risk of attack by not following several precautions about swimming in an area populated with alligators. "Alligators view dogs as a meal, and they're drawn to them. Also, people should be very careful and vigilant when swimming in dark waters," she said. "It's also not a good idea to be in the water near dawn or sunset, because that's when the alligators are looking for food. And there are lots of alligators in the Withlacoochee River." Blair and others who regularly swam in the river now say they don't intend to do so anymore. "I'm a little skittish about just walking around the banks now that I've seen what a gator can do to you," Blair said. "I'll swim in the Rainbow River, but never again on the Withlacoochee." Another riverfront resident, Stephanie Norton, 35, said she had a close call with an alligator at the same spot where Dotson was attacked. She dove into the water off a sea wall when, from the other side of the river, a large alligator slid into the water and swam toward her. "That didn't scare me off from swimming, but this sure did," Norton said. "I'll never go in that water again." -- Jorge Sanchez can be reached at at (352) 860-7313 or by email at sanchez@sptimes.com.
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"He was sitting in his porch and talking, making sure he got his insurance cards and that the dogs were locked up in the back yard," Blair said. The dogs, mixed breeds named Billy Jack and Nikki, were not injured.
