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Polk Deputies Save Man From Alligators - Again

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By BILLY TOWNSEND, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 8, 2008

LAKELAND - For the second time in not much more than a year, Polk County sheriff's deputies have intervened to protect Adrian Apgar from an alligator, the sheriff's office reported.

In November 2006, four deputies waded into Lake Parker to rescue Apgar from the clutches of a large alligator that nearly killed him.

And early Friday, just after midnight, deputies were able to talk Apgar, 47, out of a pond at Saddle Creek Park before an alligator could grab him.

Other than that, the incidents, as described by the sheriff's office, sound strikingly familiar.

On Friday, deputies found an unoccupied truck parked at a dirt cul-de-sac near one of the former phosphate ponds that make up the park. They learned it was Apgar's truck and began looking for him.

The deputies called for Apgar, and he eventually answered from the far end of a trail cut into thick brush and brambles. Squatting and dodging woody plants, the deputies tracked Apgar through the brush to the edge of a pond.

There they found him naked, walking through the water. Several alligators were nearby.

Apgar also had been found naked in the 2006 incident, when toxicology reports showed he had methamphetamines in his system.

This time, Apgar told deputies he had been bitten by a snake while looking for an alligator, but they found no evidence of that. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Apgar's behavior was delusional.

He was detained under the Baker Act, which allows police to hospitalize a person for 72 hours if his mental condition is considered a threat to himself or others. He was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

The first alligator encounter cost Apgar his arm and kept him hospitalized for weeks. The deputies who rescued him found themselves celebrities for a day or two.

Judd said this latest confrontation angered him and his deputies because it put them at risk again unnecessarily.

The sheriff said Apgar likely will face misdemeanor charges of trespassing and exposing himself. Judd said he hopes the legal system will be able to monitor and help Apgar.

Judd said deputies found no evidence of drug use this time.

"He told the deputies he knew he was gambling with his life. Our deputies have been placed in danger twice as a result of this man's actions," Judd said.

"I applaud our deputies' actions; they followed up on an abandoned truck, realized who it belonged to and found Apgar, who was placing himself in danger, again," the sheriff said.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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