Officer Tolson intercepts pizza delivery due to loitering alligator

March 13, 2025

Pizza ... with a side of gator?

Sunday, March 9, Officer Tolson was patrolling the River Isles 55+ neighborhood and spotted an 8-foot-long alligator wandering between homes and down streets. He contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and then stood guard to keep curious citizens at bay.

The gator settled in the driveway of a home at about the same time a young pizza delivery driver arrived with a steaming hot pizza. Officer Tolson intercepted the pizza delivery and agreed to take the order to the customer’s back door. Unfortunately, the customer failed to answer her neighbor’s call warning her not to open her front door.

Officer Tolson - pizza in hand - returned to the front of the house and implored the elderly woman, now feet away from the gator, to go to her back door instead. He successfully handed off the dinner and, at the customer’s request, snapped a picture of the gator with her phone.

FWC successfully trapped the gator and relocated it away from the neighborhood.