An Arlington man was bitten by a snake as he reached into his luggage. He was rushed to the Inova Fairfax Hospital and is now in stable condition, authorities said.

Andrew Bacas, a rowing coach at Yorktown High School, said he felt a sharp pain as he got his hand into the luggage. It happened after he had returned with the team from a six-day trip in Summerton, South Carolina.

He didn’t realize what caused him the sharp pain until he saw the nearly foot-long snake, which authorities said was a juvenile Eastern diamond rattlesnake. The coach slammed the luggage shortly after he realized what was in it and called 911, said Chief Ben Barksdale, spokesman for the Arlington County Fire Department.

"He was conscious and alert but a little anxious," Barksdale said of the victim.

A fire rescue crew was sent at the scene. A member of the crew took the bag from the coach and blasted it with a carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher. The move killed the reptile by freezing it, Chief Barksdale said.

The member of the rescue crew said he saw it done on TV. He added the technique involving the carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher is also effective against bees or other wild animals.

"We took the bag outside and used a [carbon dioxide] fire extinguisher to freeze the snake," killing it, Barksdale said.

It is not sure whether the reptile was placed in the luggage on purpose or it crawled in there by its self. Bob Myers, director of the American International Rattlesnake Museum in New Mexico, first suspected it was a prank, but said it’s very possible that the snake crawled into the bag seeking warmth or shelter.

"It's been rare to find a coach who is as well-liked and highly regarded as Andy. I would find it hard to believe they would do anything even in the name of a prank that would cause harm to him," said Mike Krulfeld, director of student activities at Yorktown High School in Arlington.