Disney To Review Sign Issue After Deadly Gator Attack
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ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) - Entertainment giant The Walt Disney Company plans to "thoroughly review" their sign issue after a two year old boy was snatched and killed by an alligator near the Grand Floridian Resort at the Walt Disney World Resort.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said his department and the state wildlife agency would also look into the issue of signs around Seven Seas Lagoon, where Disney had posted "no swimming" signs but no warnings about the presence of alligators.
Demmings also said charges were unlikely against the boy's parents, Will and Melissa Graves of suburban Omaha, Nebraska, because there was no indication that they committed any crime that contributed to the reptile grabbing their son, Lane Graves.
"There's nothing in this case to indicate that there was anything extraordinary" in terms of neglect by the parents, Demings said.
Authorities said the boy waded into no more than 1 or 2 feet of water in the lagoon around nightfall Tuesday when he was taken from a small beach. The boy's father desperately tried to fight off the gator, suffering cuts on a hand, but he could not save his son. Neither could a nearby lifeguard, officials said.
Divers found the child's body about 16 hours later. Demings said it appeared the gator drowned the child and left the body near the spot where he was last seen. An autopsy was planned.
Searchers removed five of the reptiles from the water while looking for the child.
Beaches that were closed during the search remained off limits to visitors, the company said.
A family friend released a statement on behalf of the Graves thanking well-wishers for their "thoughts and hope-filled prayers." CEO Michael Iaccarino of Infogroup, a marketing company where Matt Graves is chief data officer, said Graves' family "is the light of his life."
Robert Iger, CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, issued the following statement:
"As a parent and a grandparent, my heart goes out to the Graves family during this time of devastating loss. My thoughts and prayers are with them, and I know everyone at Disney joins me in offering them our deepest sympathies."
Wildlife officials said the attack was a rarity in a state with a gator population estimated at 1 million. But it still shocked visitors in a city built on tourism.
"It's the most magical place on Earth, supposedly," said Michelle Stone, a Detroit-area resident visiting Disney for 10 days with her two children. "To come here with your family and (be) having this great time ... There are no words."
Nick Wiley with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said witnesses estimated that the alligator was 4 feet to 7 feet long. One of the five gators that searchers removed from the water may have been responsible for the attack, he said.
The beach where the reptile grabbed the child is across the lake from the Magic Kingdom theme park. The lake, which stretches over about 200 acres and reaches a depth of 14 feet, feeds into a series of canals that wind through the entire Disney property.
Though Florida has grown to the nation's third-most populous state, fatal alligator attacks remain rare. Before the child's death, 23 people had been killed by wild alligators in Florida since 1973, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission statistics.
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