We often represent people in Public Intoxication cases. Clients often ask what it means to be "publicly intoxicated." That's hard to define, but here's a clear example: According to the Palm Beach Post, a Florida man lost his arm early Sunday, after trying to swim across an alligator-infested canal. Kasey Edwards, 18, was drinking with friends at about 2 a.m., when he decided to swim across Nubbin Slough, a canal that empties into Lake Okeechobee and that is notorious for being chocked-full of gators. Some of his friends tried to persuade him not to take the plunge, but he dove in anyway. After Edwards splashed into the canal, an 11-foot alligator rose up and clamped Edwards in its jaws.
Edwards fended off the attack, but not until after the gator had swallowed Edwards's left arm. Edwards was pulled from the canal by his friends and treated at a local medical center. A local sheriff's deputy who went to the scene counted 13 alligators at the spot in which Edwards jumped into the canal.
Later, on several morning news talk shows, Edwards noted that he did not realize his arm was missing until he pulled away from the gator and tried to swim. Edwards also blamed the incident on the over-population of Florida canals with gators and railed against animal rights activists who prevent alligators from being hunted in order to keep down their numbers. Edwards called alligators "nuisance animals" and also noted that gators are more aggressive than they used to be.
This all begs the question: Just how high does your blood alcohol level have to be for you not to realize that the gator has chomped off your arm until you try to swim away? Perhaps we will all find out if and when the lab results are released by the medical center. But even without those results, I can say, based on my years of training and courtroom experience, that, if this happened in Texas, mosts juries would come back with a "guilty" verdict in a public intoxication case. Just keep that in mind all you Guadalupe and Comal River tubers.
The gators have the right of way. Be safe.