Police who boarded unmanned Sarasota boat stress importance of using engine cut-off switches
Sarasota police chased down and boarded an out-of-control unmanned boat Monday.
The boat's operator was not utilizing the boat's emergency engine cut-off switch, according to police.
Police are using Monday's incident as a teaching opportunity to stress the importance of using engine cut-off switches.
SARASOTA, Fla. - The officers in Sarasota who chased down and boarded an unmanned, out-of-control boat on Monday are using it to show why emergency engine cut-off switches are so important.
The officers were able to turn off the engine before a possible disaster. A large wake threw the vessel's operator overboard as the boat was traveling about 40 mph.
"There were three vessels that departed from Marina Jack," said Officer Ron Dixon, a captain with the Sarasota Police Department's Marine Patrol. "They were headed back to their home port. The operator that was on the smaller boat that got thrown off was behind a larger boat that had cut in front of him. While he was navigating that wake, he maybe had turned a little too hard and was actually thrown off of the vessel."
What they're saying
"Obviously, he was a little dazed by that. When he got his wits about him, he noticed that the boat was actually circling towards him, and according to him, passed within five feet of him," said Dixon.
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The operator of the 26-foot Everglades vessel broke two fingers in his left hand from the impact with the water.
According to Sarasota police, he wasn't wearing a life jacket or utilizing the emergency engine cut-off switch.
"He was very apologetic. He was very happy that he was alive and uninjured, just, you know, just his left hand," Dixon said. "These emergency cut-off switches are so important. If he would have been wearing one, none of this would have happened."
If a vessel operator falls overboard, an emergency cut-off switch immediately turns the engine off.
According to Dixon, wireless and Bluetooth cut-off switches are also available.
Timeline
The incident happened in the middle of the Intracoastal Waterway north of the Ringling Museum.
Dixon said he was on scene in about five minutes, and his first priority was to keep all other boaters away from the area.
He said no one realized initially that the boat was unmanned.
"That vessel was traveling 40 miles per hour. By itself, it could have T-boned any of the many vessels that were transiting through the area," Dixon said. "It was a very, very dangerous situation there in the beginning."
He called for backup, which included Lieutenant Bruce King.
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The Sarasota Police Marine Unit, the Coast Guard, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, Venice Police Department and SeaTow worked together to try several times to slow the vessel's motor with towlines. Those attempts were unsuccessful.
Then, SeaTow deployed a plasma towline that slightly slowed the vessel.
"That little bit was enough to say let's try it again [hopping aboard the boat]," King said.
King said his gut told him the first attempt wasn't right before that.
"The boat was doing circles. It was not doing a perfect circle. So, it was migrating kind of in a northeast direction," King said, describing the second attempt. "It would have eventually hit somebody or someone. So, we took our shot, and I wouldn't have done it with anybody else but Ron Dixon or Michael Skinner. Our two boat captains are very skilled."
Dixon maneuvered close enough to the vessel for King to hop on board and shut it off.
"I calculated it. Ron had it perfectly set up. Mike was holding me. I took the jump, and it wasn't until afterward that, you know, you get the adrenaline dump and say, 'Wow, that was pretty neat," King said.
"We had to do something because this boat was going to hit somebody or someone at some point," King said.
"This happens a lot, too much, and unfortunately for local and state agencies, we are unable to enforce when they're not wearing it [the cut-off switch]," Dixon said. "That's a federal law. Coast Guard can write them [up], but us being out there and seeing it all the time, we educate, and that's about all we can do."
The federal law requires operators of recreational boats under 26 feet long to use an engine cut-off switch.
Prior Incidents
Dixon also responded to a similar incident in 2020 that tragically took the life of 10-year-old Ethan Isaacs.
He was out with Sarasota Youth Sailing when, the FWC said, his instructor fell off his boat and wasn't wearing an emergency cut-off switch. That boat ran into Ethan and killed him.
"He was in the sixth grade and a really smart, joyful kid, just full of life and wanted to be a geologist one day," said Mindy Isaacs, Ethan's mom.
"It's really just not worth the risk of losing a child. I mean, that day that Ethan was on the water, there were 16 other kids on the water in the area. I don't think people really realize often, too, the danger of a propeller," said Mindy Isaacs.
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"I mean, my dad described it like a saw in the water, and it's lurking under the water. It's not something that you always see when you're out on the water, and you're in the boat, but to really understand that when that boat becomes, you know, unmanned, no one is controlling it, and you have something similar to a saw in the water, that the damage, potential damage that it could cause," said Mindy Isaacs.
Ethan's Law went into effect in 2022 and mandates that boating instructors and coaches on vessels 26 feet or smaller must wear an engine cut-off switch in Florida.
His parents say an engine cut-off switch should be a requirement for all boat operators.
"It's very upsetting," said Greg Isaacs, Ethan's dad, about Monday's incident. "It's sort of triggering when that happens. The engine cut-off switch should be like your seatbelt. You should automatically put it on every time you start the engine on a boat. It really could save your life, and as we saw yesterday, a lot of the first responders ended up risking their lives to bring the boat into control."
"Ethan, we know, would have made a difference in the world, just given, you know, his intellect and who he was as a person, and he would be someone that would consider other people's safety," said Mindy Isaacs. "So, it is really sad to think that, you know, this had to happen when it could have been prevented."
Big picture view
Officers who responded to Monday's incident said they had just gone to a training session for this type of maneuver two weeks ago.
They said if you see an unmanned boat out of control, get out of the area, warn others and call 911.
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FOX 13's Kailey Tracy collected the information in this story.
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