OCOEE, Fla.--An eight-foot long alligator, roaming a Central Florida neighborhood Tuesday, really caught residents by surprise.
"It walked for 20 steps and then it just kinda sat down and walked for 20 steps and sat down. It was kinda odd to watch," one neighbor said.
The gator was spotted roaming along the front yards of homes in the Hammocks subdivision in Ocoee.
"It was a pretty good size, and it was pretty fat," another neighbor said.
The reptile finally stopped at a doorstep before Florida Fish and Wildlife officers were able to get there.
One homeowner almost opened her front door to it,
"We were like, 'no go back in,' so she closed the door," said bystander Walter Day.
Just when neighbors say they thought the show was over the tied up gator made a last-ditch effort to get away.
"The gator flipped back and headbutted the guy (trapper). Knocked him to the ground, at that point, it was kinda free and whacked police officers with its tail," Day recalled.
The event, which was recorded on video, shows a woman in a blue shirt rush over to help the trapper struck by the gator.
Experts say two things bring gators out from the water: When they're looking for a mate and when they're looking for food.
"We don't really have any bodies of water here in the neighborhood, so to see it come from some distance to being in the neighborhood, it was pretty surprising," said neighbor Jim Jarrells.
The condition of the trapper was not released.
