Police say a South Carolina wife turned fighter fought off an alligator that attacked her husband in their backyard.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office says that in the garden of Joseph Roeser on Wednesday, an alligator came out of a nearby pond and attacked him. He cried out for help, and his wife Marian heard him and acted right away.
A report from the sheriff’s office says Marian Roeser said, “I just grabbed the closest thing I could find—a tomato stake—and started hitting the alligator in the eyes and and head.” “I knew I had to do whatever it took to save my husband.”
Her quick answer worked out well. The sheriff’s office said the alligator let go of Joseph, which let Marian help her husband get inside their home in the Sun City Hilton Head retirement community and call for help.
The sheriff’s office said that when first rescuers got to the scene at 10:03 a.m., they found Joseph awake and aware.
Joseph got bites on his leg and cuts on his head, probably from falling on the ground during the attack, according to the police. He was taken to a nearby hospital to get care for injuries that were not life-threatening.
After the event, officers from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources went to the spot.
Because the alligator was so mean, workers for the Department of Natural Resources had to kill it and take it away from the area.
The Roesers told the sheriff’s office that they had been careful about going outside because they had seen alligators in their pond before, but they never expected to come so close. Marie told the cops that they have been very careful about what they do in the backyard when they see the alligator.
Authorities told people in coastal South Carolina to stay alert about alligator safety, especially in the spring and summer when the reptiles are most active. This incident serves as a reminder of that.