A woman who was killed in a rare alligator attack while swimming with her boyfriend in Florida struggled for her life before dying from the brutal injuries inflicted on her by the animal, newly released autopsy results confirmed.
The report containing the results of Brittany Clark’s autopsy, published on Thursday, also contained new details about the extent of the ۲۸ June mauling that unfolded in Seminole county’s Little Big Econ state forest.
Clark, ۳۱, and her boyfriend – identified in the ۱۱-page autopsy report as Chance Allison – were swimming in the Econlockhatchee River when an alligator attacked her, local officials had previously said.
Allison desperately tried to free Clark from the alligator’s mouth, according to a Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) spokesperson. Nonetheless, the attack led to the “near complete traumatic amputations” of Clark’s left arm at the shoulder as well as her right forearm, the autopsy report said.
The autopsy report also said that Clark had teeth marks from the attack on her left shoulder blade and collarbone.
Clark died from her injuries as emergency responders brought her to a hospital, the FWC had said. The autopsy report noted that it was Allison who identified her body at Orlando regional medical center that same day.
The Orange county associate medical examiner Jenaye Mack subsequently conducted the autopsy and determined Clark died from the multiple blunt force injuries that she received from the alligator. Mack also ruled that Clark’s manner of death was an accident.
The FWC said officials removed two alligators – ۱۲ft and ۱۳ft in length, respectively – from the river and euthanized them. DNA testing conducted on those alligators linked the longer of that pair to Clark, the FWC later announced.
Alligator attacks on humans are rare in Florida, according to the FWC, which compiles reports of encounters with the state’s estimated ۱.۳ million gators. The agency in ۲۰۲۲ reported an average of about eight unprovoked alligator bites annually – and only ۲۶ fatalities from those attacks since ۱۹۴۸.
Clark’s online obituary said she financially supported herself by working as a heavy construction equipment operator, and she had attained the role of foreman before her death.
“She was ready to settle down, start her own family and begin new adventures,” the obituary added.
Clark’s survivors included her parents and two siblings, according to the obituary. A celebration of life honoring her was scheduled for ۲۶ July at a ranch in Geneva, Florida.
