Miami - When a Florida deputy asked a woman if she had
anything else on her during a routine traffic stop, he wasn't
expecting what she did next.
She "proceeded to pull an alligator out of her yoga pants (about one
foot in length) and placed it into the bed of the truck," the
Charlotte County Sheriff's deputy said in an incident report.
The bizarre encounter took place at about 3:30 a.m. Monday in Punta
Gorda.
Deputies were stationed on Tamiami Trail conducting traffic
enforcement when they spotted a blue pickup truck that didn't stop at
a stop sign, according to the incident report.
The deputy asked for the driver's license, registration and insurance
card. The driver, Michael Clemons, 22, told deputies he and his
passenger, Ariel Machan-Le Quire, 25, were trying to collect frogs
and snakes from under the overpass.
The deputy then asked permission to search the bags in the truck to
make sure "they did not collect any wildlife they were not supposed
to have," the deputy wrote in the report.
Not to be outdone by #Floridaman, a #FloridaWoman pulled this alligator out of her pants this morning during traffic stop after being asked the standard "Do you have anything else?" She also had 41 3-stripe turtles in the car. @MyFWC responded to take over the investigation. pic.twitter.com/UdZsDBvh9f
— Charlotte County Sheriff's Office (@CCSOFLSheriff) May 6, 2019
Clemons consented and all of his bags had clothes and other personal
items, the deputy said. Machan-Le Quire then gave permission to
search her backpack, which was on the floorboard near her, according
to the report.
"Ariel opened the backpack that was on the passenger's floorboard
that revealed 41 small turtles," the deputy wrote in the report. Then
she pulled the alligator from her pants.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission was then called to
investigate. It was not immediately clear if either Clemons or
Machan-Le Quire were charged.
In a funny social media post Monday, the department shared a photo of
the gator in question.
"Not to be outdone by the #FloridaMan, a #FloridaWoman pulled this
alligator out of her pants Monday morning during a traffic stop after
being asked the standard, "Do you have anything else?"