US Teen Recounts How She Fought Alligator That Dragged Her Underwater

A 15-year-old girl in the US is being praised online for her bravery after surviving a terrifying attack by a 10-foot alligator. According to the New York Post, the incident took place on June 22 in Pond Creek, Florida. The 15-year-old, identified as Summer Hinote, was swimming when she felt something brush up against her. What followed was a brutal encounter in which the teen emerged with injuries but alive. 

Speaking to Fox 35, Hinote revealed that she was bitten by the alligator on her leg. The reptile took her underwater and shook her violently. Refusing to give up, the 15-year-old said she fought for her life and started punching it in the head. "I didn't know what it was at first, so I just turned my body around and started punching it in the head," she recalled. 

Her desperate struggle caused the alligator to release its grip momentarily, but only for it to grab her again. "And the second time that he let go and grabbed me, he had drug me underneath the water. And he like shook my leg around," she said. 

Further, Hinote described how, when the alligator released her for the second time just to get a better grip, she seized the opportunity. "Whenever he let go, I had started running up. And I had gotten up out of the water," she recounted.

The teen shared that she was finally able to break free of the alligator's control with a friend's help. She said that while she was in the water, she asked her friend if her leg was still there. "He said 'you're fine, you're fine, it's not that bad but you have to get up. He's coming up from behind you'," she recalled.

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The teen said that her friend then picked her up and helped another girl as they ran up the creek's bank to get to higher ground where the alligator couldn't get them. The friend then called Hinote's mother and told her that she had been bitten, per CBS News.

Hinote's mother said she jumped in her truck and raced to them. After putting her daughter in the truck bed, she drove her to the hospital. The 15-year-old suffered severe injuries, but it did not need to be amputated, officials said, per the outlet. Based on the size of the bite, they believe the alligator was at least 10 feet long.

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