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When Bryan Zuniga fled a traffic stop in Tampa yesterday, he had the right idea. Sprint away from cops. Jump a fence. Hide behind a water treatment plant.
But Zuniga wasn’t counting on a justice-loving reptile. He’s back in custody this morning — with nasty scars on his face — after escaping the cops only to get mauled by an alligator.
The incident started just before 3 a.m. yesterday, when a deputy noticed Zuniga swerving in his lane near Pinellas Park, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
When he tried to pull the 20-year-old driver over, though, Zuniga stopped his car, got out and sprinted away. When he hit a vinyl fence, he kicked his way through and kept running.
That was the last police saw Zuniga — for about two hours, at least. That’s when 911 got a call from a man who’d just been mauled by an alligator. He told operators he’d been “watching fish” when he fell into the water behind a treatment plant and a gator chomped on his face and arm.
Police quickly realized the victim was actually Zuniga, and that he’d in fact been attacked by the gator while hiding from deputies.
Zuniga was treated for injuries to his face and his arm, and booked into jail on charges of fleeing police, breaking fences, driving on a suspended license and resisting an officer without violence.
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