ORANGE CITY, Fla. (WESH) — Florida highways are no stranger to surprises, pop-up thunderstorms, bumper-to-bumper traffic and even the occasional deer crossing. But this past Saturday, riders on Interstate 4 faced a surprise no one saw coming: an alligator in their lane.
"I saw it, like, 10 feet in front of me, and I just, you know, I thought — I knew I was going to hit it," said Cameron Gilmore, a motorcyclist. "It kind of just happened so quick. I didn't even have a second to do anything. Couldn't put on the brakes or not. And I just had to hold on."
Gilmore, 67, is from DeLeon Springs. He was on I-4 in the Orange City area when he hit an alligator in the middle of his lane. Once he hit it, he went flying.
"One of the riders in front of me said he, he went by the gator, looked in his mirror, saw me hit it, and I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my head on I-4 and rolled," said Gilmore. "They said — somebody said two or three rolls on, you know, head-first, and then I start flying for a long way."
Gilmore was traveling to Sanford with a group of riders, and many of them immediately ran toward him after the crash.
"My right leg was real numb and hurt," he added.
One woman's dashcam captured one person lying in the middle of the road and another off to the side.
A 25-year-old woman from Orange City hit the gator after Gilmore. Both motorcyclists were transported to HCA Lake Monroe Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
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Despite a couple of broken bones and fractures, Gilmore is in good spirits and has every intention of getting back on his bike.
"Nobody wants me to, but I, yeah, I will. I'm not scared," he said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was dispatched to assist with the injured alligator.
