Florida gator’s ‘death roll’ kills Sacramento woman; family mourns ‘fun-loving soul’
Family and loved ones are remembering Brittany Clark, the former Sacramento resident and Kennedy High School student killed by an alligator in a Florida river, as officials there released new details of the gruesome attack.
“We had so many things planned out and memories to be made,” boyfriend Chase Allison said in a July 1 Facebook post containing photographs of the pair. “You were such a special person and did not deserve to go out in such a way.”
Clark, 31, was swimming with her boyfriend and a friend in shoulder-deep water in the Econlockhatchee River in the Little Big Econ State Forest near Orlando, about 1:30 p.m., June 28, when the alligator struck.
Orange County, Florida, Medical Examiner’s Office, in a preliminary report released Monday and provided to The Sacramento Bee, said the alligator grabbed Clark by the arm and began its “death roll,” pulling the 130-pound Clark underwater.
The “death roll” is described by the National Institutes of Health as a violent, spinning maneuver used to subdue and dismember its prey.
Allison fought with the alligator to try to free Clark, but the alligator pulled the pair underwater and grabbed Clark’s other arm, according to the medical examiner’s report. Allison tried to bring himself and Clark to shore when the alligator released them.
Allison then began CPR on Clark, who had critical injuries to both arms, and called emergency responders. Clark survived the attack but died a short time later at a nearby hospital, said medical examiners.
Clark was living in Orlando and worked for a construction company. Florida state wildlife officials, in a televised news conference the day after the attack, said Clark, Allison, and a friend, had stopped at the water to swim during a hike through the state forest.
In an online Go Fund Me appeal to bring Clark’s remains back to California, aunt Gena Smith remembered her niece as an “amazing person and a fun-loving soul.” Smith asked for prayers for Clark’s family “as we navigate through this tragic journey.”
The fund had received more than $13,500 as of Monday afternoon, far surpassing its stated $5,000 goal.
Alligator attacks are uncommon in Florida, but “every body of water can potentially have alligators,” said Chad Weber, a spokesperson with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, at the news conference. “There’s some risk when you swim in bodies of water in the state of Florida.”
The 12-foot alligator believed responsible for the fatal attack was later captured by Florida wildlife officials and put down, authorities said in the examiner’s report. A row of teeth on the alligator’s head matched the wounds on Clark’s arm, according to the report.
.JPG)