Kicker - Runaway boat

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, high speed chases certainly aren’t unheard of in law enforcement, but this one was quite unusual.

That’s because the vessel that authorities in St. Petersburg, Florida, were chasing, had no driver.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department recently received a call about a runaway boat.

RADIO: Yeah, eagle, I’ve got eyes on that boat. We’re still about four and half miles out.

This is actually a little terrifying.

The driver of the small boat had fallen overboard, about a half mile from shore, and the boat was speeding around in circles.

RADIO: Eagle 2, when you get down there, it looks like there’s some people in the water close to the beach. You might want to get on the PA or yell over to them to get out of the water so they don’t get hit by this boat.

Marine deputies pulled the man overboard to safety and then some others carefully maneuvered alongside the runaway boat and boarded the craft and stopped it.

The sheriff’s office said the incident serves as a good reminder to always wear a cut-off switch, or "kill cord" when boating.

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