Richland man survives crocodile assault throughout swim in Mexico

Richland, Wash.

A Richland man is lucky to be alive after a crocodile attacked him during an open water swim and tried to pull him to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea.

It was a horrific experience, but one his son Andrew says his lifelong training helped him survive.

You may have seen Eric Greager, a 72-year-old personal trainer and spin bike instructor, swimming in the Columbia River or know of his decades-long support of the Tri-Cities running community. He’s retired from 36 years of work at the Hanford nuclear site.

Last week, he and his wife, Gail, arrived in Cozumel, Mexico, for one of four Scuba diving trips they had planned.

With a little time left before dinner after checking into the hotel and dive shop, Greager went for a swim.

“One minute I am just enjoying my swim and the next second I’m fighting for my life,” he told the Tri-City Herald.

He swam for about 15 minutes, going between the swim area at one resort to the swim area at the next resort and back.

He had reached the buoy line that marked the swim zone at the resort where he was staying and was about 30 yards from the beach when he felt a hit from behind.

“I turned to look, expecting to see a person, and instead it was the head of a crocodile just a couple feet away from me,” he said.

Then the 10-foot crocodile lunged.

As Greager tried to push it away, it chomped down on his right arm and “started thrashing around like a dog with a rag toy, going back and forth,” he said.

He remembers feeling the damage being done to his right arm as he pounded his left fist into the crocodile’s head and kicked and screamed.

The crocodile went into the death roll that crocodiles use with prey, violently twisting onto its back and pulling Greager toward the bottom.

Greager kept fighting and “for whatever reason, he let go, and I started to drift back up towards the surface.” He estimated the water was 15 to 20 feet deep.

But the crocodile was not done with him.

Greager managed to push him away with his left hand as the crocodile nipped at his hand, before it finally swam off.

Greager’s artery severed

Greager came to the surface and grabbed the swim buoy rope with his good hand and started pulling himself toward shore.

About half way there, as blood spread through the water, his cries for help were heard by people on the beach. Several ran into the ocean to pull him to safety.

A lifeguard put a tourniquet on his right arm while he was still in the water.

By then, the adrenaline that had kept him fighting was gone, and he had a hard time walking, he said.

More tourniquets were applied above his elbow, and a couple on the beach ran to his hotel room to find Gail.

During a bumpy 30-minute ambulance ride to the hospital and the wait for surgery, he was in the worst pain he’s ever felt, he said.

He grabbed the hands of doctors, begging them to save his right arm.

He was in surgery for six hours, with both a vascular surgeon and an orthopedic surgeon working on his damaged arm.

The artery in his right arm was severed, and all the tendons were torn, Greager said. But although the two main nerves in his arms were exposed, they were not damaged and no bones broken.

A cut on the back of his leg was stapled closed and wounds to his left hand were stitched up.

He spent three days at the hospital, with antibiotics pumped into his bloodstream and a nerve block for the pain. He then stayed several more days in Mexico, visiting the hospital twice a day for IV antibiotic treatments before flying home.

There’s been no infection, and his doctors in Mexico and the Tri-Cities give Greager a good chance of regaining most of the function of his right arm.

He’s wearing a brace now that keeps his arm immobile, but expects to soon be cleared by an orthopedic specialist to begin physical therapy.

He could return to training clients at the Pacific Campus, formerly the Pacific Clinic and Tri-City Court Club, later this month and, as soon as he can grip handlebars, plans to resume leading spin classes.

Luck is with Greager

Greager, the longtime director of the St. Patrick Day Food Race and Leprechaun Dash, counts himself lucky to not have been in an open stretch of water when he was attacked.

There would have been no swim line to pull himself toward the shore, he said. And the beaches between the resorts were empty, with no one to apply tourniquets, which helped save his arm but also his life.

He’s thankful for all who helped him — people on the beach, resort employees, the ambulance crew, the doctors and nurses — and all those who have sent messages of support as word of his ordeal spread in Tri-Cities.

“The kindness of people has been amazing,” he said.

He won’t be going scuba diving in Fiji as he and his wife had planned for June. But he’s hopeful he will be recovered enough for their scuba diving trip to Indonesia in October.

He has no qualms about getting back into the water.

“I made it 72 years without getting attacked by a crocodile,” he said. “I think that’s my one and done.”

This story was initially revealed April 3, 2026 at 5:00 AM.