By: BoatBlurb Staff
We were expecting a high-speed chase between a PWC and a couple Florida sheriff's deputies, but the end result might be even more entertaining.
A video taken from bodycam footage from a Volusia County, Florida deputy shows a pair of officers approach a family at a boat ramp and ask if they'd be willing to drive them to intercept a PWC thief somewhere nearby on the Intracoastal Waterway.
The quick thinking boat owner tells them they can take the boat instead, rather than be escorted, and the deputies take off to chase their suspect.
In a race between a 19' Sea Ray bowrider and a Yamaha Wave Rider, we would give the advantage to the PWC, but sadly for the suspect he couldn’t get the PWC started... and he couldn't swim either.
Deputies found the man floating (with the hood up) and promptly demand that he abandon the PWC and swim over to them. It's at that point the suspect calls back "I don't know how to swim." Understandably flabbergasted, the officer calls back "So you're gonna take a jet ski but you don't know how to swim?!"
It seems the suspect had plenty of time to escape, even on foot, but after the PWC wouldn't start he elected to try floating away rather than abandoning the vessel. In broad daylight.
You can read the statement from the Volusia County Sherriff's Office Below:
"Just want to say THANK YOU to an Ormond Beach family who let our deputies interrupt their Sunday afternoon to apprehend a suspect on a stolen jet ski.
Around 12:30 p.m., deputies responded to assist the Ormond Beach Police Department on a report of an in-progress theft of a jet ski. The suspect (Ronald Williams, DOB 3/4/1974) had been unable to get the watercraft started, but decided to float away on it anyway.
Nearby, a family was about to head out on the water for the afternoon, but instead they allowed deputies to take their boat over to the suspect, who was still floating in the Intracoastal Waterway trying to get the jet ski started.
Williams was taken into custody without incident and the jet ski was returned to its owner.
We really appreciate the help from our residents!"
You can watch the bodycam footage of the shenanigans in the video below:
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