On March 10, 2024, headlines told tales of a South Florida man who found himself lucky to be alive after a rare animal attack in the Everglades. Bitten and dragged under the water by an American crocodile, 68-year-old Rodrigo Constain was flown to Jackson South Medical Center, where he ultimately survived the harrowing encounter.
One crucial detail virtually every news report left out: If not for the quick thinking and action of Marathon-based FWC biologist Andrew Heise, there may not have been a man left to save. And last Friday, that detail earned Heise a trip to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ mansion as Monroe County’s first-ever honoree in the Florida Heroes’ Reception.
Celebrated with a total of 62 individuals, ranging from law enforcement and first responders to faith leaders and entrepreneurs, the third annual ceremony in Tallahassee recognized “Floridians who have exhibited extraordinary courage and selflessness,” DeSantis said in a press release.
“These 62 individuals represent the virtues we hold in high esteem here in Florida,” he said. “They are Florida’s heroes.”
“I was visiting my girlfriend when I found out,” Heise said. “I woke up, looked at my emails, saw that and said, ‘Oh shoot. This was a bigger deal than I thought it was.’ She looked at me and said, ‘Well, I guess you’re gonna need to get a suit.’”
Last March, Heise was on duty at the Flamingo boat ramp when he saw Constain capsize his sailboat in the marina’s boat basin and attempt to re-board it from the water.
“He was splashing and flailing,” Heise recalled. “And at one point, he just dropped under the water for a second. I could barely see the top of his life vest.”
Eventually swimming back toward the boat ramp, Constain had “a clearly confused look on his face,” but wasn’t verbally responding to those on shore. As a park ranger and local kayak rental attendant helped him back onto land, it was easy to see why.
“He was missing about a third of his calf muscle,” Heise said. “It immediately just started pumping blood into the water. I looked out, and the croc surfaced on the water right where it had happened.”
“I tried to open his mouth, but I don’t have the strength to open his mouth,” Constain told multiple media outlets in an interview from his hotel bed. He guessed the croc, known to locals as “Half-Jaw” for a missing part of its lower mandible, held on for about “15 to 20 seconds” before releasing him to eventually swim for the shore.
Carrying Constain away from the water’s edge, Heise said he soon realized that a tightly-wrapped trauma pad provided by a park ranger wouldn’t be enough to stop the bleeding. Using a two-foot piece of rope and knowledge acquired from years in Boy Scouts, he applied a tourniquet just below Constain’s knee.
“I said to him, ‘This is gonna hurt, but we have to cut the blood flow off. We have to get this done,’” Heise told the Weekly.
Several minutes later, more park rangers arrived, applying a second tourniquet to back up Heise’s work. But with a helicopter unable to land locally, an airlift from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was nowhere nearby.
“They had to drive to the park entrance,” Heise said. “It’s normally an hour – I heard it took them 35 minutes.”
Due largely to Heise’s quick action, Constain was able to keep his leg. Heise said he hadn’t spoken with Constain since the incident, but a GoFundMe set up by Constain’s family confirmed he’ll miss multiple months of his typical construction and HVAC work.
“I have pain, but nothing like that matters because the experience was so hard,” Constain said from the hospital. “I feel good that I’m here, alive.”
Documented cases of crocodile attacks on humans in the U.S. are exceedingly rare, with Heise’s experience joining just one other report from Coral Gables in 2014 as the only known incidents in recent decades. Heise said he was unsure about Half-Jaw’s current status, but knew rangers were searching for the large reptile in the days after the bite.
Asked what allowed him to take charge of the situation as Constain went into shock, Heise, credited both Scouting and years of karate training. His answer was half serious, half said with a smile.
“I don’t know – I can just instinctively take care of a situation, fix a problem,” he said. “It’s probably where I got the ‘cop walk’ that my friends harass me for.”
“I am so incredibly proud of him – he is the most selfless person I know and will always be there when the world needs him,” Heise’s girlfriend, Taylor Marcialis, told the Weekly. “It’s truly an honor to be by his side and see the greatness he can and is accomplishing.”
As news of the save spread to his hometown, Heise said he was inundated with congratulatory calls. But one that he made himself held special significance: a call to former Army medic J.J. Krupa, Heise’s counselor for his First Aid merit badge in Boy Scouts.
“I asked him if he’d read our local paper, and he goes, ‘I have indeed, Mr. Heise. That’s quite an experience you had there.’ I said, ‘Well, if it wasn’t for someone’s skills and teachings, this might have had a different outcome.’”
