A massive dead alligator in the middle of a Louisiana road caused a multi-vehicle car crash as one van swerved off the road and into a nearby bayou. Around 6.30am Monday, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the 5400 block of Paris Road as the gigantic reptile laid dead on the Chalmette median, about 20 minutes outside of New Orleans.
The crash occurred when one driver slowed their car down to get a good look at the bizarre gator, causing the driver behind them to swerve in an attempt to avoid hitting them.
The second vehicle landed directly into the nearby water as pictures showed the top of the silver Honda minivan sticking out while the back sank down.
‘People scared of a lil bitty creature,’ Aces Towing and Auto Sales said in a post on Facebook about the crash.
Those involved in the crash were not seriously injured, witness Kayden Koffler said.
It is unclear how the alligator died and how long it had been there.
It is also unclear what happened to its deceased body after the crash.
‘My mom took this today while driving in Chalmette,’ the caption read as commenters accused the person of ‘photoshopping’ the image. The towing company posted pictures of the car in the water as a person in a blue shirt seemed to be getting out of the vehicle, while two others stood nearby. Multiple cars were seen stopped on the shoulder of the road as a police blocked oncoming traffic. The company captioned the post: ‘So how was your Monday…mine started like this….yep the last picture was the culprit!!! People scared of a lil bitty creature….’People quickly reacted to the peculiar situation on social media as one suggested: ‘Gonna need a warning sign “Alligator crossing” both ways in and out of Da Parish.’ ‘Bet they weren’t going slow when they spotted that big boy,’ another said. Another wrote: ‘What a bad way to start the day, esp [sic] if the gator was already dead!!’ A commenter said: ‘That’s a big gator, but it would seem you could roll him over slowly and be on your way!’The Bayou State and Florida have the largest alligator populations, though the reptiles can be found from central Texas to North Carolina, according to Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries. They are most commonly found hiding out in bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, canals, swamps and bayous. The cold-blooded animals are often seen laying in the sun as their body temperatures regulate to their surrounding environment.The reptiles can grow to about eight to nine inches long when they first hatch, but as they grow, they get much longer, depending on their gender. Male alligators ‘rarely exceed 13 feet in length’ and weigh around 500lbs, while female alligators grow to about nine feet and can weigh more than 200lbs.According to the Louisiana Alligator Advisory Council , there are about 2million alligators in the state. In June, a Louisiana couple found a five-foot long alligator in their bedroom after it snuck inside their home through a doggie door. Don, 62, and Jan Schultz, 55, had just moved to New Iberia, Louisiana when the smaller gator took them by surprise.‘Our dog Panda growled a deep throat grumble and woke my wife up and she tapped me and said, “I think there’s someone in the house'” and so I got up and headed down the hall to check,’ Don told KATC. ‘I saw the shape of an alligator.’ He cautiously made his way down the hall around 1:30 a.m., armed with a Glock .40-caliber pistol, before noticing what he initially thought was a dog toy on the rug. He quickly realized it was a gator.
This article by Emma Richter was first published by The Daily Mail on 4 May 2024. Lead Image:Â Koffler, who wasn’t present at the time of the crash, told NOLA.com the alligator was dead when he showed up for work at Gulf South Automotive, near the crash scene, that morning. He described the beastly creature as ‘pretty decent-sized’ as Koffler witnessed the frightening aftermath of the crash. Shortly after the wreck, authorities and a tow truck arrived and rescued the van out of the bayou. A picture showed the large gator laid out on the median, as it looked toward the road.
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