Video: Florida Deputy Leaps Onto Runaway Speedboat After Driver Falls Overboard
A Florida deputy is being praised as a real-life action hero after stepping up to stop a runaway speedboat after its captain fell overboard.
Video taken last Sunday shows two Pinellas County deputies with the Marine and Environmental Lands Unit responding to a call from the U.S. Coast Guard asking for help wrangling the out-of-control boat. One of the deputies’ bodycams captured the high-speed chase, which reportedly reached 41 miles per hour.
Deputy Travis Fernandes leaped into action after the officers caught up to the ghost ship. While his partner held their boat steady, Fernandes jumped off and stuck the landing on the runaway boat before securing it.
Subscribe to Florida Jolt Newsletter!
Deputy Leaps onto Runaway Boat to Stop It After Captain Falls Off pic.twitter.com/nwOdOx9RXX
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 4, 2023
A statement from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office described how the two officers were called to the scene,
“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 Deputy Fernandes to leap aboard and take control of the vessel.” ~ Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
“And yes, Deputy Fernandes does his own stunts,” the sheriff’s office added.
Join your fellow patriots and subscribe to our Youtube Channel.
Wearing your engine cut off switch became a law in 2021. Thankfully, law enforcement officials stopped this runaway boat before anyone was seriously injured #WearIt.
Learn more about the law: https://t.co/N64fbNDh6f
🎥 by Station St. Petersburg @GoCoastGuard pic.twitter.com/EXAYJB2oAm
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) July 30, 2023
Fernandes can be heard in the video reassuring his partner as they honed in on the vessel. Before jumping off, he says, “You got it; I don’t care about getting wet; you got it.”
The deputy later assisted the Coast Guard in untangling a line wrapped in the boat’s propeller.
“Is anything caught up in there?” a coast guardsman can be heard asking Fernandes
“I think I just did; I didn’t even know there was a line back there. Oh yeah, I just wrapped ’em up good,” the officer responded.
“Oh, that’s what we needed like 45 minutes ago,” another coast guardsman replied, drawing a few laughs from the group.
Later, Fernandes was approached by his partner, who told him he did a “good job.”
“Yeah, you too,” he replied.
“That was pretty bada–,” one of the coast guardsman added.
Police say that the man who went overboard was later rescued and brought to shore by a good Samaritan. It is unclear what caused him to fall from the boat.
Other stories you may want to read:
Writers Strike Forces Liberal Late-Night TV Off Air For 3 Months, Possibly Forever
- Navy Vet Thomas Turkin Fights for a Better Boynton - February 10, 2025
- Rebecca Shelton’s Vision to Revitalize Boynton Beach - January 29, 2025
- Gaetz Resigns From Congress After AG Nomination - November 14, 2024