The drowning of 2-year-old Lane Graves by an alligator at Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort still haunts members of the public two months later.
On the evening of June 14th, Graves was wading in the shallow waters of Seven Seas Lagoon, Disney’s man-made lake when an alligator snatched and dragged him underwater.
The little boy’s body was found by divers six feet under water the next day, just 10-15 feet away from where he was attacked.
Radar Online obtained a copy of the full autopsy, which rules the death as an “accident” and notes that Graves sustained fatal injuries to his “neck, scalp and skull.”
Graves, whose family was enjoying a movie night on the beach, was “dressed in a pair of blue shorts” with a disposable diaper underneath, “worn with a short-sleeved T-shirt emblemized with the American flag.”
The most severe injuries, according to the report, were around Graves’ head.
“The right side of the scalp,” the coroner noted, revealed “a vertically-oriented laceration measuring 2.3 x 0.3 cm.” with “a maximal depth of 0.4 cm.
“The skin on the left side of the hair-bearing scalp in the parietal region has two recent puncture wounds.”
Graves’ skull was fractured, and the coroner found “abrasions on his eyelid, eyebrow and jaw.” He concluded that Graves “died as the result of cranio-cervical trauma and drowning.”
The alligator was eventually caught and killed by authorities. Even though there is no swimming permitted in the lagoon, signs did not warn resort guests that alligators, snakes and other dangerous animals inhabited the waters.
Prior to the accident, lounge chairs would be set up on the beach for people to sunbathe, and the resort also hosted movie nights, like the one the Nebraska-based Graves took part in before their son was killed.
Graves’ father, Matt tried to wrestle the boy out of the jaws of the alligator, but it was too late.
We continue to keep the Graves family in our thoughts.
