May 07, 2020

A Message from Mayor Weaver

In my recent communication about the alligator related death that occurred last week, I committed that the Town would provide additional information as it is made available by the several investigating agencies. We followed that Monday with the release of the Coroner’s finding, which was accidental death by drowning. Since that time, the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office has provided to the Town and the media the individual investigative reports prepared by the responders. The CCSO will not be issuing any further final summary report.

The Town does not intend to publish those individual reports, out of respect to the victim and the witnesses to this terrible tragedy. The details from those reports have been widely and very accurately reported by local media during the past several days and support the conclusion that the contributing action in this accident was the failure to not follow proper caution in approaching the animal.

This accident reinforces the message that acting safely around our wildlife is of critical importance. We will continue to practice the island’s alligator management program we share with theCommunity Association and stress in our communications the need by residents and visitors to recognize the danger of feeding or approaching alligators.