LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) – The father of a toddler killed by an alligator at Disney last month told rescue officials two alligators were involved in the attack, according to emails from the Reedy Creek Fire Department.
Matt Graves said he was attacked by a second alligator as he tried to reach his 2-year-old son after the boy was pulled into the water outside Disney’s upscale Grand Floridian Resort.
Capt. Tom Wellons described his interaction with the Nebraska father in emails to his supervisors obtained by The Orlando Sentinel (http://tinyurl.com/z9baqzn ). Wellons said Graves initially refused to leave the area as rescuers searched for little Lane Graves even though the father needed stitches and antibiotics from gator bite marks. Wellons said he eventually persuaded Graves to get medical treatment, promising he could return afterward.
“This incredibly sweet couple insisted on showing us pictures of their happy son. (The) mom kept referring to him as her ‘happy boy,'” Wellons wrote in the emails.
On the way to the hospital, Graves shared “the horror that he experienced” as his son was being pulled into the water and “how another gator attacked him as he fought for his son,” according to the email to supervisors.