{"id":73065,"date":"2021-10-01T18:45:11","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T18:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/10\/01\/watch-us-army-veteran-traps-gator-in-trash-can\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:32:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:32:31","slug":"watch-us-army-veteran-traps-gator-in-trash-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2021\/10\/01\/watch-us-army-veteran-traps-gator-in-trash-can\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Army veteran traps gator in trash can"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A U.S. Army<\/a> veteran has become the newest \u201cFlorida Man\u201d sensation after a video of him seen catching an alligator with a trash can went viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only thing that came to my mind was to protect my kids and the other children outside,\u201d Eugene Bozzi, 26, told<\/a> USA Today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u2019d he do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArmy training kicked in,<\/a>\u201d he told CBS3 in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust get it done, drop him there and keep it moving,\u201d said Bozzi, a Philadelphia native.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to ABC7NY.com<\/a>, Bozzi\u2019s kids were riding bikes and playing outside his Orange County, Florida home when Bozzi\u2019s daughter alerted him to the unwanted intruder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy daughter came and got me. I couldn\u2019t really see it, so I got close upon it, and he backed up a little bit, and I was like, \u2018he\u2019s kind of big,\u2019\u201d Bozzi told ABC News. From there, Bozzi lept into action to defend his children, well, as far as he could leap in flip flops, that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was gonna put my shoes on. I had flip-flops on; everybody\u2019s making fun of me (for that),\u201d Bozzi said. To combat the interloping predator, Bozzi accented his combat-flip flops with a weapon of opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me get the trash can!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, the fight between Bozzi and the ancient predator was on. It was claws and power full jaws versus flip flops and the finest anti-alligator ordinance on the market: a city-issued trash can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the trash can, Bozzi was able to back the alligator up while waiting for the gator to approach the can. Once the alligator\u2019s head was inside the can, he dropped the lid, causing the animal to jump inside, trapping it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt felt like two six-year-old boys trying to get out of there. You know six-year-old boys, you can\u2019t hold them down,\u201d Bozzi told WPVI-TV<\/a> in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having removed the threat to his children, the next question was what to do with an alligator trapped in a trash can. According to ABC News, Bozzi, who grew up in North Philadelphia and lived in Florida for about a year, had the answer. He would walk it to where he thought it came from: the waterline across the street from his house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Bozzi approached the waterline, he told ABC News that it was the first time he was scared during the whole confrontation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I got down to the hill, I thought \u2018if I\u2019m dropping him off, there might be three more in the bushes,\u2019\u201d Bozzi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Bozzi quickly dropped the can and ran, returning moments later to collect both his can and the trash that had spilled out due to the encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No humans or alligators were harmed during the brief but intense encounter, precisely how Bozzi wanted it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love all animals. I don\u2019t care how vicious they are, how heavy they are, how small they are; we\u2019re connected somehow. We\u2019re on this planet. I think it was my duty to protect everybody and the animal came out alright,\u201d Bozzi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bozzi\u2019s gator grappling became such a famous Florida Man incident that it even inspired a song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Jonathan Mann, who calls himself the \u201cSong A Day Mann\u201d and claims to have written a song a day for \u201c12 years and 277 days\u201d (that\u2019s 4,657 songs for those keeping score), his ode to Bozzi has garnered more than 177,000 views on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n