Tag: runaway boat

Deputy makes daring move to stop unmanned, runaway boat

A deputy with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida bravely leaped from a patrol boat and into the out-of-control vessel.

A deputy with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida bravely leaped from a patrol boat and into an unmanned, runaway boat to neutralize the out-of-control vessel that had lost its owner overboard. The boat was traveling at a speed of about 41 mph.

“Yes, Deputy Fernandes does his own stunts,” the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in the Tampa stated in its Facebook post.

Body-camera footage from Deputy Travis Fernandes shows the runaway boat as the patrol boat, driven by Deputy Jill Constant, pulls alongside. Fernandes jumps into the unmanned boat and immediately throttles down to bring the runaway boat to a stop, as seen in the video posted on YouTube by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and accompanied by Van Halen’s song “Jump.”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S0m3bSUsqBU

“The driver had fallen off and was rescued by a Good Samaritan,” the sheriff’s office stated in the post. “The Coast Guard attempted to deploy prop-fowling devices to stop the vessel, but they were unsuccessful. Deputy Constant intercepted the runaway vessel by matching its speed (about 41 mph) inside the curve, allowing Fernandes to leap aboard and take control of the vessel.”

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“If you don’t want this to happen to you, always connect your kill switch lanyard,” the sheriff’s office stressed in the video.

The vessel was intercepted about two miles east of St. Petersburg, according to the New York Post.

Quick-acting marine officer avoids boat crash

A marine officer standing in his docked patrol boat in Fort Myers, Fla., was lucky he was paying attention when a boater attempted to dock some 50-feet away otherwise he might have been nursing a bit of whiplash, if not something worse. That’s …

A marine officer standing in his docked patrol boat in Fort Myers, Fla., was lucky he was paying attention when a boater attempted to dock some 50-feet away otherwise he might have been nursing a bit of whiplash, if not something worse.

That’s because the driver of the boat accidentally hit the throttle and crashed into the patrol boat. The Fort Myers Police Department posted video of the accident on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/fmpolice/videos/703697273495405/?__xts__[0]=68.ARApGQ8ErOT5NHsozXyP7-wf18ybJFxLLGMOlMFxw-t_ywbIc0SC9wNgWFLFZ1ZXciNFCjf0Ab7vL6Viae8V-F5pC3KHYIMKU7JYgCg3znCAup5gqSgcKiq03K0TgjOTXWIVWALrA8shhAwzZxyJvlKrLR0BmAQ_Z7CDbAXxoy6rznPFlLKGxL-ouz-mvUVFOn0xLRB0w46bpYU7sYizLKHFGn1RQ-XtsW6YuNBOmdYC0QY_VQ1KULt9Wfj0tz4NxEvvpslSVftUt-kNsElO0pIxQ_mW937dSABuag3QejyEBBROopY6TY94Okzt47KSsGz5mK0N3eFCymdEm8ez8sxPrY5fcA&__tn__=-R

As seen from a surveillance camera, the boat slowed as it came upon the dock, and an occupant standing on the bow tossed a rope to someone on the dock. Suddenly the occupant standing on the bow was no longer standing when the boat suddenly lurched forward along the dock toward the Fort Myers Police Department Marine Patrol Boat.

boat crash

Marine officer Curr quickly leaped out of his boat onto the dock just in time to see the runaway boat hit the back end of his patrol boat. Curr wasted little time getting on the radio to report the incident.

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The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated the accident and cited the driver of the boat for careless operation of a vessel, according to WBBH.

Fortunately there were no injuries, but both engines of the patrol boat were damaged.

Photo courtesy of the Fort Myers Police Department. 

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