July 7th – A Texas highway patrolman was hospitalized briefly after suffering a snakebite while conducting a routine traffic stop in northern Llano county.
Trooper Van Reynaldo, a 10 year veteran of the Texas DPS was issuing a traffic citation near midnight to a speeding motorist on US Highway 71 near Valley Spring when he felt a “thump” on the side of his boot. Trooper Reynaldo thought little of it at the time and concluded the traffic stop. When he returned to his patrol vehicle, his ankle began to have a burning sensation and it quickly swelled. He drove to a nearby convenience store for better lighting and determined that he’d been bitten by a snake, presumably a Diamondback Rattler since they are so plentiful in the area. Reynaldo then contacted his sergeant and quickly drove himself to the local emergency room where he was treated. Reynaldo said that troopers exercise caution on the roadways of our great state but that no one can never be too careful.
“We get into ant beds and all kinds of stuff sometimes on the highway shoulders” Reynaldo said. “And on rare occasion…snakes too” he said.
Snakes are cold blooded and use the existing heat from roads at nighttime in an effort to regulate the temperatures of their bodies.
Trooper Reynaldo was released and is recovering at home.
