Alligator occupies busy road, so deputies had to get creative when ‘things got real’
“Why did the gator cross the road?”
This is what Louisiana deputies asked when a call went out over the radio on May 1 about a gator, according to a May 2 Facebook post from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said they got the call about a gator in the road and converged in the middle of Pontchartrain Drive, a busy road across the lake from New Orleans.
“Cops are nosey, and it’s a slow night,” the post said. “Most of the shift shows up.”
Sgt. Jon Philley assessed the situation, and knowing fish and wildlife officials were on the way, he made the decision that the gator needed to be moved from the road.
But, how?
Philley, nicknamed the Monroe Mumbler by a deputy because of his strong north Louisiana accent, started thinking of a creative solution.
He asked his fellow deputies if anyone had a dog-catching pole, the sheriff’s office said, and Deputy Dylan Taylor did for “stuff like this.”
“Gimme the dog catcher pole Taylor,” Philley said, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Wow things got real,” the post said.
Philley wrapped the ring of the dog-catching pole around the tail of the gator and proceeded to drag the gator off to the side of the road until fish and wildlife officials arrived, the sheriff’s office said.
When asked about his out-of-the-box solution in the comments of the Facebook post, Philley said he “didn’t wanna have to go bug Sgt. Sicard for a new uniform.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Alligator occupies busy road, so deputies had to get creative when ‘things got real’."
