A man says an alligator attacked him outside of his home Saturday in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Police said local resident Scott Hollingsworth opened his front door after hearing a strange noise, assuming someone was looking for his son, WESH reported. Hollingsworth said the alligator leapt at him and bit his upper thigh as he opened the door.
“Went outside and didn’t turn the light on and just got a step outside and something grabbed me on the leg, started shaking violently,” he told the outlet. He said he first assumed he was being attacked by a dog, but that quickly changed.
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“Six feet or seven feet,” Hollingsworth said at the time, though it was later reported the beast was closer to nine feet in length. “I really didn’t get a good look at it. When I saw what it was, I stepped back in the house and closed the door. Looked down and I had a large gash in the side of my leg. I was trying to put pressure on it.”
The family have seen alligators in the pond outside of their home, but never so close to their residence, according to WESH. (RELATED: ‘Kind Of Brutal’: Marathon Runner Claims He Was Attacked By Coyote)
Hollingsworth was rushed to the hospital after the bite, where he received surgery on his thigh, WESH reported. There was no significant damage to his knee, which is what he was most concerned about. Alligator attacks have appeared to become more common in recent years, especially in Florida and South Carolina, Outdoor Life reported in 2022.