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A photograph in the report shows the alligator flat with its legs splayed on the fast food restaurant’s kitchen floor. An officer responding to the incident captured the alligator, taped its jaws shut “for safety” and released it into a nearby canal, according to the report.

The officer later viewed surveillance footage from an adjacent gas station, which shows what appears to be the same driver acting “suspiciously” minutes before the incident.

“The driver exited his vehicle by pulling himself up and out of the window of his door instead of opening the door itself,” the investigator notes, adding that the driver and a passenger later “continuously” look through the driver’s side window at something inside.

Once approached by authorities, James admitted to having picked up the alligator along the side of a road, driving to Wendy’s and throwing the beast through the drive-through window.

In an interview with WPTV, James’s parents described him as an outdoorsman and harmless prankster, adding that he viewed famous crocodile hunter and conservationist Steve Irwin as an idol.

Ed and Linda James told the station that their son was pranking a Wendy’s employee that he knew.

“It was just a stupid prank that he did that’s now turning into this; it’s stupid,” his mother told WPTV. “He’s a prankster. He does stuff like this because he thinks it’s funny.

The American alligator is listed as “a species of special concern” in Florida, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which notes that “state law prohibits killing, harassing or possessing alligators.”