This Florida Man Brought a Live Gator with Him on a Beer Run
It’s no secret that Floridians love their gators. Some keep them as pets or drag them to dorm rooms, while others simply bask in the majestic creatures’ glory as they stomp around on golf courses. For one Florida man, even the prospect of getting head-butted wasn’t enough to keep him away from his state’s favorite reptile, because he apparently decided it’d be really chill to bring one along on a beer run.
A video of the guy’s stunt in Jacksonville surfaced late last week on Facebook, First Coast News reports. In it, Robby Stratton, the man in question, strolls into the convenience store holding a live gator like a tote bag, on a mission to get some beer. Then he sets his sights—and his gator—on a man standing by a cooler, shouting “You taking the last bit of beer?” before chasing him through the store and grabbing a few cold ones.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is now investigating Stratton, who allegedly committed a third-degree felony for possessing the gator without a permit—punishable by up to a $5,000 fine or five years in prison, Action News Jax reports. In an interview after the incident at the same convenience store with the outlet, Stratton placed the blame for his stunt on “alcohol, man,” explaining that he was under “a lot of the influence” when it happened, and that he doesn’t remember anything from that night at the convenience store.
He also told Action News Jax that he had no clue where the gator came from—but in yet another video from the extremely well-documented fiasco, you can see Stratton holding the thing with a lit cig in his mouth, describing how his friend caught the beast while he was weed whacking.
Who’s to say for sure if Stratton was actually blackout drunk when he brought the gator along in his search for more Natty Light or whatever, considering people have been known to do far more dangerous stunts with the animals at baby showers around their kids. Stratton did admit that, if anything, the stunt was “stupid” and that he’ll “probably go to jail, probably not—we’ll see.”
He claims he’s since released the poor, defenseless gator into a creek, so—if he’s telling the truth—at the very least, the animal can return to a life of being metal as hell.
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This article originally appeared on VICE US.