Alligator kills suspect police were chasing...  − 15 January, 2008

This story made me snicker – a tale of ultimate justice, I suppose, or Karma, or whatever you want to call cosmic retribution or stupidity. A little bit of Darwinian evolution…
Down here, practically in my backyard, a couple of guys were breaking in to cars in the parking lot of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. Cops showed up and one suspect was caught, the other guy ran from police and jumped in to the retention pond to escape.
He didn’t get too far – even though people yelled at him to get out of the water, he didn’t pay attention and the pond’s resident alligator, nicknamed “Poncho,” attacked and killed him.
The body was recovered the next day – the victim had several bites to his head – and unfortunately Poncho was also captured and killed.
So, it’s a story about the fact that if you do something bad, it’s always going to come back and get you – one way or another. Granted, this cosmic retribution was immediate and pretty harsh, but if you are jumping in to a lake in Florida, what do you think is going to happen?
Down here, you just assume all bodies (no pun intended) of fresh water have alligators.
In fact, just this morning, there was a report on the news about a trio of loose dogs, one of which was grabbed and eaten by an alligator. Authorities showed up, caught one of the dogs (who will be taken to a local shelter) and the third dog escaped both the alligator and authorities.
I guess in other parts of the country, you could get away from the cops by swimming, but not here. Florida is a beautiful place, but it’s natural wonders can be deadly.
So, I guess the cops had a lot less paperwork to do that day – one less perp to book. It’s sad for the poor guy’s family. He may have been a bad seed, but someone loved him – he was someone’s kid, brother or friend – even rotten folks have family or like-minded friends.
It’s sad for the alligator, too – he was just doing what millions of years of evolution honed him to do – eat. The stupid human was an attractive prey item. I guess the taxpayers benefited most – we didn’t have to pay for one more bad guy in jail or on trial – it was over and done with.
So think about what you are doing. Your bad deeds come back to get you one way or another. They always do somehow. And just make sure not to jump in a retention pond down here in FL if you want to live.