‘Squealing’ former New York cop wrangles first alligator in new job: ‘Official welcome to Florida’
It’s law enforcement on a whole new “scale.”
A former New York cop learned police work in Florida bites when he tried to wrangle his first alligator and got so spooked he started “squealing,” according to footage and officials.
Officer Martinez was tasked with removing the rogue reptile during a “very Florida situation” in which the gator wandered onto a property in Largo, police said in a playful Facebook post Wednesday.
“You have big teeth. I have tiny fingers,” Martinez tells the hissing critter as another officer tries to hand it to him.
The juvenile alligator, which has its jaws taped shut, suddenly begins thrashing wildly — causing Martinez to yell, “Ah! Oh god, why?!”
“While most of our team handled it like seasoned pros, one of our newer officers from New York experienced his very first run-in with a gator and it showed!” the Largo Police Department said.
“Let’s just say there was some jumping and maybe some squealing.”
Martinez — whose first name or previous police job in New York wasn’t released — then holds the gator with a spooked facial expression and then a grin as someone else snaps a photo.
The police department called the moment Martinez’s “official welcome to Florida,” where weird crime and exotic critters run amok.
It wasn’t immediately clear which New York police department Martinez had previously worked for.
