Police have concluded their investigation into the June 14 incident in which an alligator came ashore at a Disney resort and dragged a 2-year-old boy, Lane Graves, into the water. The boy’s body was found intact 16 hours later near where he had been taken from the shore. The boy’s death has been ruled an “accident.”
The report states that the Graves family was on the beach at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa around 9:00pm after an outdoor movie had been cancelled due to inclement weather. Lane bent to fill a bucket with wet sand for a sand castle, and his father, Matt, reports hearing a splash, turning and seeing the alligator grab his son’s head. He jumped into the water and grabbed the alligator’s snout to try to rescue his son. The gator then “pulled Lane underwater and both disappeared into the Seven Seas Lagoon.”
There were other hotel guests on the beach who witnessed the attack; at least one passed out after the attack and counseling services were offered to another guest “who remained distraught more than a day later.” Matt Graves was treated at the hospital for multiple teeth marks on his hand and scratches on his foot.
The report also details a lifeguard’s account of the attack, who says he “saw the victim and the gator in the water 15 to 25 feet from shore.” He saw the gator start splashing around and then both it and the boy went under the water as the gator swam further into the lagoon.
It was determined that Lane had a traumatic neck injury and was drowned.
The report stated that two people had seen an alligator in the water before the attack and alerted Disney employees, though it doesn’t say how soon before the attack they were seen.
During the search for the boy, six alligators were removed from the lagoon and killed. A report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was also just released and it said that two 7-feet-long female alligators were part of those six and they were found near the beach. As that was the size witnesses reported seeing, it is assumed that one of them was responsible for the attack, though tests on the animals were inconclusive. The report stated, “The victim could have been mistaken for some of the animal’s normal prey like opossum, armadillo or raccoon.”
The Graves family will not be suing Disney for the death of their son.
Since Lane’s death, Disney has been adding warning signs and fences along the waterways.
News source: Orlando Sentinel
Photo credit: Kathy Werling
