A 13-year-old Florida boy was hospitalized last week after he was attacked by an alligator while swimming in a creek with his younger brother.
The boy, Gabriel Klimis, was swimming at Howell Creek in Winter Springs, Florida, on June 20 when an alligator latched on to his right leg.
The boy shared with TODAY that the animal quickly tried to pull him under the water, and when he noticed what had happened, he couldn’t see a way out.
“The gator kind of just grabbed me from there, and then once he wrapped his jaws on me, I knew that there was no getting out,” Klimis said.
But just because he couldn’t get out of the animal’s jaws didn’t mean he couldn’t put up a fight.
Klimis shared that he started punching the alligator in the head multiple times until the animal finally let go, giving him enough time to swim back to shore.
He went to a house nearby the creek, called his mother, and then called 911 to call for help.
While speaking with the Seminole County Fire Department, the boy told the operator that he was bit on his right hip but that he was otherwise “okay.”
“I can walk, and I can stand. I’m fine,” Klimis said.
Paramedics arrived at the creek and took the teen to a local hospital, where he received stitches where he was bitten.
While he has since been released and is recovering at home, his mother, Allison Klimis, told TODAY that there is still danger from the bite.
“Huge concern for infection,” Allison Klimis said. “We talked with infectious disease (experts), and they said about 10 days until we’re really out of the woods just because of how deep the wound was and the creek water.”
In the days after the attack, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent officials to the area where Klimis was bitten. The officials were able to trap an 8-foot alligator believed to be responsible for the attack, but they noted that there is no way to be sure.
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