A Pinellas Park man who was bitten by an alligator while trying to hide from deputies in a creek talked about the attack from behind bars.
“One bite to my head and arm,” said 20-year-old Bryan Zuniga from the Pinellas County Jail Visitation Center. “My arm was inside his mouth.”
Zuniga said the gator was so big that his left arm and head fit inside its jaws.
“I turned my head around and I saw this big head,” he said. “It was massive and I knew it was an alligator as soon as I saw it.”
A Pinellas sheriff deputy said Zuniga ran away from a traffic stop at 2:47 a.m. near the 7100 block of 78th Ave. N., in Pinellas Park. The deputy said he pulled Zuniga over for failing to maintain a single lane.
Zuniga said he was scared because he was being followed by a car and didn’t realize it was a deputy. Zuniga said he decided to run when he pulled into a random driveway and the car pulled in behind him. Zuniga said as he was running away the deputy turned on his lights and shouted for him to stop.
“I should’ve went back to the vehicle,” Zuniga said. “It was all just a misunderstanding.”
Zuniga admits he was driving on a suspended license to get some late night food.
The deputy said the fleeing suspect broke a vinyl fence to escape. To get away, Zuniga said he swam across a creek on the west side of the South Cross Bayou Water Reclamation Facility in unincorporated St. Petersburg. Zuniga said when he stopped along the bank to catch his breath that’s when he spotted the large gator that may’ve been following him.
“I put my arm up as soon as I saw it,” he said. “The moment that I moved and saw it, it lunged at me and attacked me.”
Zuniga said he was in a life or death struggle with the gator that he estimated to be at least 8-feet long.
“In those spilt seconds he put me in a death roll and I was fighting for my life and I did not know what to do. I just kept punching it, trying to grab its jaw, trying to open it, kick it, push it away from me,” he said. “In those moments, I did something to make him open his mouth and he released me.”
Zuniga then walked to the emergency room at St. Pete General Hospital to be treated for his bite wounds. Deputies were called to the hospital at 8:50 a.m. and said Zuniga matched the description of the suspect who ran from the traffic stop.
The Pinellas Park man was arrested for driving on a suspended license, obstruction, breaking fences and fleeing a law enforcement officer. Only Bay News 9 got exclusive video of Zuniga being booked into the Pinellas County jail on Thursday.
Zuniga made a first appearance in court on Friday before Judge Quesada who asked him, “What animal attacked you?”
“An alligator,” Zuniga replied.
Judge Quesada appointed a public defender to represent Zuniga and the attorney objected to the probable cause for the fleeing a law enforcement charge. Quesada agreed to lower the bond on that charge from $5,000 to $1,000 and gave the state attorney’s office 72-hours to amend the affidavit.
After the hearing the judge gave Zuniga some advice, “Careful with those gators.”
Zuniga’s total bond is $2,300 and the defendant said he’s trying to sell his car to get enough money to get out of jail.
“Misunderstandings lead to bad consequences and bad decisions,” he said. “This is my consequences for my decision making.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission spokesman, Gary Morse, said an investigator went out to look for the gator but didn’t find anything. Morse said they’re going to stop looking for the gator until they get an official complaint and know the circumstances of the bite.
Zuniga said he’d be happy to show and FWC officer exactly where he was bitten. Zuniga said that gator is not afraid of humans and is a danger to the community.
“If I ever get out of jail, I will be glad to show the exact location,” he said.