FORT MYERS, Fla. – An alligator attacked a man in Port Charlotte early Sunday morning, tearing off the man’s arm.
Jordan Rivera, 23, fell into a pond behind Banditos Bar off S. McCall Road near closing time. That’s when the gator attacked the Englewood man, biting off his right arm in the process.
“Those gators, I didn’t truly understand them until I woke up in the hospital and, ‘Oh, gator got your arm,” Rivera told NBC2 from his hospital bed in the ICU at Gulf Coast Medical Center.
RELATED STORY: Man narrowly escapes alligator attack on Sanibel Island, walks away with scratches
Thirty-six hours after the attack, Rivera invited NBC2 to share his story of survival.
“I didn’t lose my life, I lost an arm, it’s not the end of the world, you know,” said Rivera.
It’s that attitude, that outlook on life, that stands out about Rivera. From his hospital bed, covered in wires, he’s counting his blessings while being remarkably optimistic.
His mother, Teresa, is too.
“That’s the best thing, is that I have him. Yes, arm gone, very traumatic. But he’s here,” Teresa Lessa said.
Rivera was attacked by the alligator early Sunday morning. The gator bit off his right arm just above the elbow and nearly took his life.
“They got my elbow. So, I don’t have an elbow,” Rivera said. “I can still move my arm around and whatnot.”
He shares that his memory isn’t deep when it comes to what happened that morning. What Rivera does recall is that Banditos was busy and the bathroom lines were long.
That’s why he took a walk out to the pond out back, to relieve himself.
“So I ended up walking over to the water hole, I didn’t realize how big it was at the time, as I was going over there something happened where I either tripped or the ground below me just went down,” Rivera said. “I ended up in the water. And that’s literally the last thing I remember.”
The next time he opened his eyes, he was in the hospital. It’s then he found out the gator ate his arm.
“Confusion. I was like ‘Whoa’. Because I just woke up and I was just sitting here. And I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was and I was like, ‘Whoa,’” he said. “It kind of feels like my arm is just there, but not there.”
If you think his story is wild, you’re not the only one. Try explaining it to the guy who’s living through it, but remembers nothing.
“It was just the craziest thing. It’s almost out of a movie,” he said.
A movie that could’ve had a terribly tragic ending, but instead turned into a story of heroes.
People at the bar rushed down to help Jordan. They pulled him from the water and put a tourniquet on his arm.
“I call them angels, that were there, that saved his life,” Lessa said. “The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet, to me, it’s a miracle that he’s here.”
“The first thing I would do is shake the man’s hand,” Rivera added.
His story has captivated people all across Southwest Florida, but it’s also stirred up the rumor mill. Some people on social media have claimed he was feeding the gator.
“That is completely not true,” he said. “They don’t even serve food at that bar, so I couldn’t have even served the gator food.”
Instead of spreading lies, Rivera would rather spread awareness that Florida’s prehistoric predators aren’t playing games.
“I would just show them my arm and say, ‘Hey bud. You wanna mess around with a big ole 12-foot gator on the golf course,’”
He isn’t out of the woods just yet. Alligators are notoriously filthy animals, filled with bacteria and other diseases.
Doctors still need to perform another procedure to clean out the remaining bacteria from his arm. After that, it could be five or six days before he’s headed to rehabilitation.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) state nuisance gator trappers located and removed the gator that attacked Rivera.
A spokesperson for FWC said the 10’ 5” gator was euthanized, a common action for gators that attack humans.
If you would like to support Rivera on his road to recovery, his family has established a GoFundMe account.
Gage Goulding
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