Triathlete escapes alligator attack using gruesome tactic and shares terrifying story of his near-death experience

A triathlete who was attacked by an alligator while training for a race escaped the clutches of the deadly creature by squeezing its eye.

Jonathan Bruney was swimming in the Savannah River after traveling to the Georgia/South Carolina border to prepare for an upcoming Ironman event.

He was planning an easy training day alongside his work as a coach as he took a  group of athletes he trains down to Augusta.

Bruney led the pack in a 'nice, easy zone-two, low-heart-rate day' swim and was using his left side to breathe and see during his swimming stroke.

But he then felt a bump on his right elbow, initially mistaking the massive alligator for a log before realization and panic set in.  

Recalling his ordeal to Outkick Outdoors, Bruney said: 'I wasn't even thinking gator.

'I'm thinking, 'Okay, big log floating in the river.' But then I looked to my right. I'm like, 'Okay, this is a lot worse than a log.'

'This thing's big enough to barrel roll and rip the arm off if I don't get away quickly.' 

Bruney then remembered a technique he learned from watching TV shows regarding their eyes being sensitive, and used the gruesome technique in a quick-thinking move that ultimately saved him.  

He explained: 'I did have two moderate punches, but that didn't do anything… [I] went up the snout and squeezed the eye.'

Fortunately, none of his athletes were bitten by the alligator as they escaped the water, and a passer-by dialed 911 as none of the swimmers had their phones.

One of Bruney's friends was able to use the cord from a swimming buoy to stop the bleeding before first responders arrived as he began to feel dizzy with his arm running cold. 

'The police officers, they came on scene pretty quickly. I mean, within a few minutes I heard their sirens,' Bruney recalled. 'They actually wrapped my arm up. Pretty good props to them for knowing what to do. And then the ambulance came.'

He has since been cleared to compete in his event, and insists he will not have any hesitation returning to the water where his horrifying ordeal occurred.