Police in Lehigh County, Philadelphia, helped untangle a 15-foot pet snake coiled around a man’s neck.
The incident occurred after 2 p.m. Wednesday in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, KYW-TV reported.
A family member of the snake’s 28-year-old owner had called 911 requesting assistance, saying that there was a man who had suffered from a cardiac arrest with a snake around his neck at the home.
Police were so surprised by the report’s content that they asked dispatch to repeat themselves when notified of the situation, WPVI-TV reported.
After arriving at the home, a family member led police to the man, who was lying unconscious on the floor “with the mid portion of a large snake” wrapped around his neck, Lehigh Valley Live reported.
“Because the snake was so large, the midsection of the snake was wrapped around the throat. The head of the snake was just far enough away from the victim that the officer made a split-second decision and he proceeded to shoot the snake in the head,” Upper Macungie Township Police Department Lt. Peter Nickischer told WPVI-TV.
The snake, however, did not die immediately. It was just wounded from the gunshot.
“It wasn’t like it just died. It started to slither away, luckily away from the officers, away from the direction that they were trying to pull this gentleman,” Nickischer told the outlet.
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“They realized it was a matter of life and death, with seconds to make that decision. Praise the officers. They did what they had to do. It was a safe shoot,” the policeman said.
“I think one of the officers described it as a scene from a horror movie, and that’s probably the most appropriate way to describe it,” Nickischer added.
Emergency personnel took the man to the hospital after freeing him from the reptile.
The man was alive when he was taken to the hospital, according to WPVI-TV.
He was reportedly still hospitalized Thurdsday, though his current condition remains unknown, according to news reports.
Police did not identify the species of the snake. The pet reptile died after it released its grip on the man’s neck and slithered away, the Washington Post reported.
According to neighbors, the man was seen several times holding snakes in his front yard, WPVI-TV reported. The neighbors said that the man also had other snakes at home.
Nickischer praised his colleagues in a Thursday interview with The Post. “They went in, they saw an opportunity to save a man, and they showed a lot of bravery as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
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