Nearly a year after an 85-year-old Florida woman was dragged into a pond and killed by an alligator, her family is suing the community where the attack happened.
Attorneys for the family of Gloria Serge announced Thursday that they've filed the suit in the fatal Feb. 20, 2023 encounter.
Serge had been walking her dog in the senior living community in Fort Pierce when a large gator came out of a retention pond and grabbed her by the foot.
The nearly 11-foot gator pulled her under as neighbors who tried to assist were unable to save her.
Serge's dog survived the attack and the gator was later caught and removed from the community by a trapper.
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At Thursday's news conference, attorneys for Serge's family called it a "sad and unnecessary loss" and said the community management could have prevented it.
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The attorneys said the gator had been seen so often that neighbors had named it "Henry," and said residents and staffers had been feeding it on a regular basis, increasing the risk of an attack.
The community should have removed the gator and posted warnings about the existence of dangerous gators in the pond, the attorneys said.
Her son, Bill Serge, also spoke about the loss of his mother, who left behind five children, 15 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.
"I never could have imagined the agonizing way in which my mom spent the final moments of her life," he said. "This should never have happened."
