couldn't make this up...

juliette14 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 17, 2004 5:45 pm

PORT ORANGE, Fla. (AP) -- A man hit his girlfriend with a 3-foot alligator and threw beer bottles at her during an argument in the couple's mobile home, authorities said.
David Havenner, 41, was scheduled for a bond hearing Saturday on misdemeanor charges of battery and possession of an alligator.
The alligator, which Havenner had been keeping in his bathtub, was turned over to Florida wildlife officials.
Nancy Monico, 39, told investigators that Havenner beat her with his fists, then grabbed the alligator and swung it at her as she tried to escape, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. She said the animal hit her at least once. She also told authorities that Havenner threw empty beer bottles at her, Davidson said.
Havenner's version of the story differed. He told investigators that Monico bit his hand because she was upset that they had run out of alcohol.<p>*Sounds like a good enough reason to me for whacking someone with an alligator. The ed who read the story had to resist putting "reptile dysfunction" in the head.

Jackie · **Posted:** Sun Jul 18, 2004 12:41 am

LOL! I announced earlier that was the one story that was definitely getting in tomorrow. I do wish what went out over the wire mentioned the gator's condition, though.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:23 am

I hate to be a spoilsport, but I'll bet there's more to it than that.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Sun Jul 18, 2004 5:00 am

Be a spoilsport. I don't find domestic violence amusing.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Sun Jul 18, 2004 10:16 am

If it were a crocodile, you'd be on the floor, Wiggins. <p>I'd much rather be flogged with an alligator than kicked and punched. I'd look on the past a little more fondly if that were the case.

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:10 pm

After eight years at south Florida papers i moved back to Virginia. At my new employer, several other ex-Floridians had wire search filters for Fla. news -- guaranteed to amaze, disgust and entertain on a daily basis.

Jackie · **Posted:** Sun Jul 18, 2004 5:56 pm

Domestic violence is not amusing. Animal cruelty is not amusing. Idiocy, while lamentable, often is amusing.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:38 am

Why did the lede point out that they live in a mobile home? I mean, just because they live up to the stereotype of trailer trash doesn't mean we should promote it.

Jamal · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:09 pm

Speaking of alligators, we're running a story tomorrow about a woman on Sanibel Island who lost her arm to a gator Wednesday. <p>Yet another reason why it sucks to take up residence in rural South Florida.

majorbabs · **Posted:** Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:13 am

I was at a fiction writers conference a few months ago and one of the Florida writers said, "You can write anything about south Florida and it's true."

Jamal · **Posted:** Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:43 pm

Update:<p>The woman I mentioned who lost her arm to an alligator yesterday died today from an infection she got from the bite.

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