Florida deputy takes leap of faith to stop runaway boat [VIDEO]

Photo by Pinellassheriff | Instagram

The kind of thing you see in movies was caught on body cam footage and shared by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on social media this week — showcasing a deputy's leap of faith to stop a runaway boat.

According to the post, the incident occurred on Sunday, July 30, when Deputies Fernandes and Constant with the Marine and Environmental Lands Unit responded to a call to assist the United State Coast Guard with an unmanned runaway vessel.

The driver had fallen from the recreational craft but was thankfully rescued by a Good Samaritan that had witnessed the incident. The Coast Guard attempted to deploy prop fowling devices to stop the vessel, but efforts proved to be unsuccessful.

In the accompanying video backdropped by the song Jump by Van Halen, Deputy Constant can be seen speeding up their vessel to about 41 miles per hour to match the speed of the runaway boat. The pair of deputies briefly ride parallel to the craft, allowing Deputy Fernandes

From the point of view of Deputy Fernandes, we see Fernandes step to the side of their law enforcement ship; as they approach the vessel he readies his stance before leaping onto the unmanned craft, using the back of the captain's seat to keep his balance and pull himself forward to stop the ship manually.
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The video of the deputy's harrowing act of bravery can be seen below:

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A post shared by Pinellas Sheriff's Office (@pinellassheriff)

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, this could have been avoided; they remind would-be boaters to always connect their kill switch lanyard to prevent an instance such as this from happening to them. Kill switch lanyards will turn a vessel's engine off if pulled from its socket, as in the event of a man going overboard.
Article by Rachael Volpe