An alligator dragged a SC woman into a lagoon. Her neighbor came to the rescue
It’s been a year since Brian McCarter saved his neighbor on Callawassie Island from what he thought was a drowning.
He can still hear the shrill sound of one of his 6-year-old twin daughters screaming at him not to jump into the water.
“By the time I got to her, she was already out in the middle (of the lagoon),” McCarter said. “I still didn’t think (about) alligators at the moment, but once it was all over with, it was clear.”
The woman, Carrol DeLillo, has had eight surgeries to fix her leg in the year since the attack and is learning to walk again with the help of a cane.
“In some ways, it’s been really inspiring and good, and in other ways, it’s been really difficult,” she said. “I’m never going to be quite physically the same.”
DeLillo said she was 15-16 feet from the bank on July 4, 2020, working on her yard ― something McCarter said she had done almost every night for the last 20 years ― when she was attacked. Her house had sold that day, DeLillo said, and she wanted it to look nice for the buyers.
“I’m picking up pine cones, and minding my own business, and suddenly I hear this splash,” DeLillo said.
When she turned around, a 10-foot alligator was charging at her.
“He grabbed my right ankle and he turned sideways and pulled me,” DeLillo said. “You can’t imagine this is actually happening.”
The alligator knocked her down and dragged her into the water while she tried to beat it on the head to let her go. She said she was shocked because the alligators in the area typically ran away if they saw people.
DeLillo survived four death rolls, she said, and was able to get to the surface for a moment to let out a scream.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’m dead,’” DeLillo said. “That’s what they do, they drown you and kill you.”
McCarter was taking his 17-year-old son, 4-year-old son and twin daughters for a sunset golf cart ride when he said the 4-year-old spotted someone in the lagoon.
“It took a moment to register that there was someone actually in the water,” McCarter said. “Nobody in their right mind would be in any lagoon in Beaufort County, let alone at sunset.”
He dove into the water and swam towards her, not knowing that she was fending off an alligator.
“We were just lucky that, for that split second, we were able to create some distance,” McCarter said. “And maybe confuse the alligator, maybe he didn’t know what I was and I scared him.”
McCarter said he was amazed at DeLillo’s strength to fight off the alligator for as long as she did. He made her a makeshift tourniquet and in the five minutes it took for help to arrive, he said, the two chatted about their children and the recent sale of her home.
DeLillo remembers McCarter’s 17-year-old son, Will, helping to pull her out of the water. He held her hand until help arrived and told her she would be OK.
“I’ll never forget that,” DeLillo said. “That was the nicest thing this young man could have ever said. He was so brave because I’m sure there was blood and all kinds of mess that he was looking at.”
When she reached the hospital, DeLillo said she required 10 units of blood and was close to bleeding out.
McCarter and his family moved to Georgia, but the two neighbors have stayed in touch after the harrowing incident. He said he wishes people would take it more seriously and educate themselves about the animals.
DeLillo, now living in Bluffton with her children, said she believes the alligator was drawn into her yard by a turtle or a bird. Her second theory is that the white bucket, similar to the ones that catch-and-release fishermen on the island use, attracted the animal. No matter the reason, she feels grateful to still be here and said she owes it all to her neighbor.
“I’m a survivor, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I survived because of Brian,” DeLillo said. “We feel that we are bonded for life. He put his life right out there and said, ‘I’m doing it.’”
What not to do
David Lucas, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said that human-alligator interactions are rare and safety is “pretty straightforward.”
“Alligators, naturally speaking, don’t want anything to do with people,” Lucas said.
Some safety tips he recommended when visiting the Lowcountry include:
- Don’t feed an alligator - This is the most important thing, Lucas said. It is dangerous, and illegal, to feed an alligator in South Carolina. If convicted of the misdemeanor, penalties include up to $200 in fines and a jail sentence of up to 30 days. Humans are strange to them, Lucas said, and they do not view people as prey. That changes, however, if they begin to associate people with food. This can happen from directly feeding them or discarding fish scraps in the water, he said.
- Keep your distance - The animals are surprisingly fast. It is recommended to keep at least 60 feet between yourself and an alligator, Lucas said. Running zigzag is not recommended. Children and small pets should be kept away from the water’s edge.
- Don’t attempt to move an alligator
- Don’t harass or throw things at an alligator - People will often take photos or videos of alligators when they see them and will throw rocks and other objects at the animals to get them to move, Lucas said. This splash makes an alligator think of a fish, he said, and will continue to associate people with food.
- Don’t disturb nests or small alligators
- Don’t swim in alligator habitats
- Don’t corner alligators - If you encounter an alligator, do not get in between it and its path to the water, Lucas said. An alligator will be afraid of approaching humans and try to jump in the water, Lucas said. If their path is obstructed, they may become aggressive.
“If an alligator doesn’t have any other reason to act aggressively towards you, and yet does, that’s a good indication that someone has been feeding it,” Lucas said. “It has begun to associate people with food, and that’s one we are going to have to take a look at.”
For those who wish to report an alligator in Beaufort, Colleton and Hampton counties, they can speak to a DNR wildlife biologist at 803-625-3569.
This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 3:00 PM with the headline "An alligator dragged a SC woman into a lagoon. Her neighbor came to the rescue."
