Alligator dies after being hit by car in Clover, officials say

CLOVER, S.C. — Faye Buchanan has lived in Clover her entire life, but she saw something over the weekend that she never expected: An alligator in York County.

“I was saying. ‘Oh, my God.’ I was calling York County and saying come get this alligator before someone gets bit,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan took photos of the alligator walking on Barrett Road Sunday night.

First Sgt. Jason Plemmons with the Department of Natural Resources said a car hit the alligator. Wildlife officers took the injured gator to the DNR's York County officer shelter, but the alligator died Monday morning, according to our newspaper partner the Herald in Rock Hill.

While the chances are slim that you are going to spot an alligator on the side of the road, Channel 9 found that alligators have previously been found in York County.

Channel 9 has a video from 1999 of an alligator swimming in Lake Wylie.

(Check out this video of an alligator in Lake Wylie in 1999)

In 2015, two fishermen said they saw a 2-foot alligator near the Copperhead Island Access Area at Lake Wylie.

Two children were playing in the lake when they said they spotted a gator in 2014.

Experts said the sightings aren't common, and if a gator shows up in the area it's likely because someone took it from its real home as a pet and released it.

Buchanan hopes she never sees another gator in York County.

“I'm just glad it’s gone,” Buchanan said.

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