A South Carolinian male diver told multiple outlets he nearly lost his arm and life April 15 to an alligator that pinned him down underwater as he was diving for fossilized shark teeth.
William Georgitis told WCBD News 2 he was resurfacing from his dive in the Cooper River at about 2:00 p.m. when the massive alligator attacked him. Georgitis was resurfacing because he had only 10 minutes of air in his scuba tank when the alligator made a beeline at him and opened its jaws, according to Charleston’s The Post and Courier (P&C).
“And when I surfaced, he was about 20 feet away from me. And as soon as he saw me he turned and — launched himself out of the water. I mean, he was coming at me, like, almost hydroplaning on the top, he was so determined to get there,” Georgitis, with his arm in a sling, told WCBD News 2.
Georgitis said he raised his arm in defense but the alligator clamped on his arm with its jaws.
“He was huge,” Georgitis told the outlet.
The alligator had aimed for Georgitis’ head and shoulders before gripping his arm between its jaws, Georgitis told Good Morning America (GMA).
Georgitis had the presence of mind to know that the next step would be a death roll, he said.
“And so I bear-hugged him,” Georgitis said. “I wrapped my hand around his head, my legs around his neck.”
The reptile drew the diver underwater, he recalled.
Georgitis told WCBD News 2 he stabbed the alligator in the eye with the screwdriver he used to pry the fossils from the riverbed. “When I did that, he shook me like a rag doll, threw me off him,” he continued.
“I knew the whole time I’m about to die, no matter what I do,” he told GMA.
Georgitis said he regained hold of the alligator, still intent on preventing a death roll as his arm was still in the alligator’s vice-like jaws.
The alligator pulled the diver down 50 feet underwater and pinned him to the riverbed.
“I could tell because my ears started popping and it got real black, and I hit the bottom with my shoulders and neck, and I could feel his weight pressing down on me,” Georgitis told WCBD News 2.
Georgitis said he stabbed the reptile on its soft gumline, between its teeth. “That seemed to work,” he told the outlet. “He shook me again pretty hard down there, and at that point, I ran out of air.”
Staring death in the eye, he decided life at the cost of his arm would be worth it, he recalled. “Wrenched back as hard as I could, trying to rip my arm off at the elbow, and er, I got out, I don’t know how,” he continued, his voice quivering as he fought back tears. (RELATED: ‘Hand Is Gone!’: Man Loses Hand To Huge Alligator While Fishing)
“I just thought that I’d tore [sic] it off, and when I got back to the surface, I could see it but it was flopping down, hanging like a wet noodle,” Georgitis said of his broken arm.
Georgitis’ friend hoisted him up into a boat and transported him to a hospital, GMA reported. His ulna was broken and his radial arm dislocated, he told P&C. Surgeons reportedly implanted a metal plate in the diver’s arm, anchored it with nine screws, stapled the bite wounds and gave him six months with additional surgery to recover, he added.
Other divers should be aware of the reptile when diving at the same spot, he told WCBD News 2.
“Breathing every moment from here on out is a blessing to me,” he told GMA.