Insane video shows how a quick-thinking police officer saved the lives of two young women who had just seconds to escape the path of a massive cruise ship that was speeding toward them.
The incident unfolded in Florida waters over the weekend when Allison Garrett, 20, and Skylar Penpasuglia, 19, found themselves in the water after falling off of their jet ski. That’s when Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputy Taner Primmer arrived on the scene in a boat and started feverishly working to pull the women inside, Inside Edition reported.
But as Primmer struggled to get the women on board, it was clear that time was running out; the massive, 130,000-pound Carnival Magic cruise ship would collide with his boat if he didn’t get both women in and quickly speed away.
“The ship was very quickly approaching,” Primmer told Inside Edition. “Even if they didn’t strike the ship or the ship didn’t strike them, it has the potential of pulling you under and then you run into an issue of potential drowning.”
A video captured by a passenger on the cruise ship shows Primmer working to get the two women on board his boat, as the massive shadow of the cruise ship moves closer and closer. Then, just in the nic of time, the cop gets both women in and quickly reverses his boat before any collision could unfold.
“He grabbed my life jacked and slung me up there just in time,” Penpasuglia said. “It was really scary to actually watch it, because when it happened I didn’t realize how close it was.”
A longer version of the clip shows nervous passengers on board the cruise ship as the vessel approaches the struggling women. Watch it below:
As it turns out, Capt. Doug Brown, who was manning the cruise ship, was also taking action to try and prevent a collision, veering away just enough to give Primmer a few more seconds to complete the rescue. Brown said he had to be sure he didn’t move the vessel toward a large dredge, which would have been problematic for those on board.
“I threaded the needle,” Brown told WESH-TV, going on to explain why avoiding the dredge was essential. “People are going to be on ladderways, they’re going to be in the pools; they’re going to get knocked over. There would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of personal injuries.”
In the end, Brown was able to both avoid the dredge and give Primmer — who is widely being heralded as a hero for his quick-thinking efforts to save the two women — enough time to get out of the way.
(H/T: Inside Edition)
—
Other Must-Read Stories:
– Watch Things Get Awkward — and Quick — When This Guy Asks College Students About Religious Freedom