Alligator takes bite out of Louisiana deputy's patrol car

SHREVEPORT, La. (FOX 13) - A Caddo Parish, Louisiana sheriff's deputy met his match when he drove up on an 8-foot alligator in the middle of Highway 1. 

Deputies tried to contain the gator while they waited for a trapper to arrive, but the gator had other plans. It ripped the grill off the front of a deputy's patrol car and then took off, according to a post on the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office Facebook page.

Deputies snapped pictures of their large foe before it escaped.

"This 8-footer was spotted tonight in the middle of Hwy. 1 in the hills of north Caddo Parish," the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook. "Deputies tried to contain it while awaiting wildlife removal experts. It escaped, but not before taking a bite out of our deputy’s patrol car."

A photo shows the alligator in tall grass on the side of the roadway, with what appears to be the grill from the front of a vehicle on the ground nearby.

Another photo shows the front of the patrol vehicle with a missing grill and a large chunk broken from the car's front bumper. No one was reported injured during the incident.

One commenter jokingly pointed out, "He wasn't going to jail." 

Another asked if insurance would cover alligator damage.

FOX 13 News reported on this story from Tampa, Florida.