Family of 85-year-old woman killed by alligator sues Florida retirement village for negligence

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: An 85-year-old Florida woman was attacked and killed by an alligator while walking her dog.

The heartbroken family of an 85-year-old woman who was dragged into a pond and killed by a deadly alligator is suing the retirement village where the horrific incident took place, claiming the owners knew the gator was living in the water and failed to remove it. 

Gloria Serge was near a retention pond behind her house in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Feb. 20, 2023, when the 10-foot-long beast crawled out of the water and first tried to attack her dog, according to chilling CCTV footage. 

The surveillance footage shows the reptile swimming in a direct path toward Serge’s dog before it rises out of the water and scampers up the embankment in pursuit of the animal. The octogenarian was taken to the ground with the alligator biting her feet, and then she was dragged into the water.

FLORIDA GATOR RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING ELDERLY WOMAN ATTEMPTED TO ATTACK DOG, THEN HER FOOT

Bill Serge, the victim’s son, announced the lawsuit against Spanish Lakes Fairways at a news conference with his attorneys on Friday.

"One year ago, I received a phone call that every son dreads," he said, according to CBS12.

"I never could have imagined the agonizing way that my mother spent the last moments of her life. No child should have to bury their mom under such horrible circumstances. This was a tragedy that was 100% preventable."

The suit claims Wynne Building Corporation, which owns and operates Spanish Lakes Fairways, was negligent in that the owners knew the gator was lurking in the pond and failed to remove it or put up warning signs to notify people it was there.

The predator was so well-known that residents nicknamed it "Henry,"