SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Newly released police body camera footage shows a new view of an alligator wrangling in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Miami-Dade Police Officer Manuel Orol said he was the first to spot the large reptile on Tuesday along a roadway near Southwest 136th Street and 97th Avenue.
Speaking with 7News after the incident, Orol said he tried to restrain the animal with a rope.
“It’s an actual tow rope. It’s a soft rope that I have that I use in case I have to extract another officer from a scene,” he said.
Orol is seen trying several times to lasso the rope around the alligator. Eventually, he succeeded.
“I was able to lasso it around its top legs,” he said.
The bodycam video captured the gator struggling as the officer tried to clip the rope to his vehicle.
Orol asked another officer to bring him a larger clip to secure the rope.
“Go in the back of my car, in the trunk, there’s a big – there’s another one of these there,” he said.
“You’re gonna tie it to the car?” the other officer said.
“I am, so this is what I’m gonna do,” he said.
After Orol tied the rope, the alligator was restrained.
“All right, he ain’t going nowhere,” he said.
7SkyForce hovered above the alligator as it crawled under the police cruiser and tried to break free.
“I hope somebody got this on video,” Orol is heard saying at one point.
Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission later arrived to the scene.
With the animal’s arms and legs tied and its eyes covered, the officers got it into the back of a pickup truck. It was then taken out of the neighborhood by a trapper.
FWC says the gator is between 6 and 7 feet long.
Orol said he made a split-second decision to wrangle the animal.
“My concern was that the gator needed to be contained so that it wouldn’t leave the area and possibly harm a child or someone walking their dog,” he said. “They were saying, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you did that,’ you know, ‘Good job,’ ‘You’re crazy.'”
No injuries were reported.
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