Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— A 12-year-old boy was stranded on the floating dock at Keystone Beach for over an hour Saturday as a five-foot-alligator swam nearby.
Shawn Baker was rescued by Donald Sharp and another man after Sharp waded out to the platform and used a buoy rope to pull the dock to shore.
The boy’s grandmother, Lavern Lanier witnessed and took photos of the incident.
Lanier said a group of about 25 older children swam in the roped-off swimming area from 2:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. Then a younger group including Baker, about eight to 10 in number, entered the water after the older children left.
“They weren’t there for more than 10 minutes when everybody started screaming ‘gator, gator,’” Lanier recalled. “And the gator is literally swimming towards my grandson, so he jumps up on the dock.”
Lanier said the other swimmers reached shore.
She added that she called 911, but deputies and Fish and Wildlife officers did not arrive until an hour-and-a-half after the call.
By that time, Donald Sharp and another unidentified man reached the floating dock and used the rope that bordered the swimming area to pull the dock to the beach.
Lanier said she and family members tried to distract the reptile away from the dock and were momentarily successful in drawing the gator to shore by splashing water. However, the animal soon returned to the area of the swimming platform.
Lanier described her son as traumatized during and after the event, refusing to leave the platform even after Sharp pulled him near shore.
“He was scared to death,” Lanier said.
Lanier said she is convinced someone has been feeding the alligator.
“Let me tell you something” she said. “someone’s been feeding him, because when we were in the water to get his attention, like splashing, he was plunging. He like plunged out the water twice.”
Feeding alligators is a misdemeanor in Florida, punishable by a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail.
