Brevard County deputy 'should get day off from work,' witness to jet ski rescue says

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — Anthony Miglioranzi, 29, of Port Orange, said he and cruise passengers were “prepared for the worst” when, they said, their cruise ship, Carnival Magic, nearly struck two jet ski riders on Saturday.

Skylar Penpasuglia, 19, Allison Garrett, 20, and a third woman, of West Virginia, were enjoying spring break and riding a personal watercraft in Port Canaveral when the watercraft overturned and the women couldn’t get back on it, deputies said.

One woman was able to get out of the water, but the wind and the current pushed Penpasuglia and Garrett into the port channel and into the path of the Carnival Magic.

"The way the wind and the current was drifting, it was pushing them right back into the channel. You could tell they were getting pretty panicked," Seaport Security Marine Deputy Taner Primmer said.

Primmer, who was providing security escort for the cruise ship, saw the incident, steered his boat into the path of the ship and pulled the two women to safety.

"It happened so fast. I was just trying to get them out of the water as quickly as I could," Primmer said.

"If it wasn't for him, we may not be here today," Pentasuglia told Eyewitness News.

Capt. Douglas Brown, the harbor master pilot, was able to turn the ship and avoid the women and the deputy, investigators said.

Miglioranzi shot video of the rescue on his cellphone.

“My brother and I ran to the side of the ship and saw the jet ski. They were bumping against the side of the ship as we passed by,” Miglioranzi told Eyewitness News via Facebook Messenger.

Miglioranzi is in the Dominican Republic on the cruise until Saturday.

“I don't think people were really prepared for something like that, as we definitely would have hit them. They were directly in front of the ship, but the deputy saved the day. He should get a day off from work,” Miglioranzi said.

Watch part of the rescue below:

"We take courses in emergency ship handling and things happen so quick, you don't have time to think about them," Brown said.

Brown said not only did he have to avoid the jet skiers in the water, he had to avoid making a situation worse by jeopardizing the safety of the thousands aboard his vessel.

"A situation like that was my first time. We do train for it. We actually come out here on the port and do swimming ops and the rescue ops in the port with a team," Primmer said. "It was close. It was definitely close. But I had to do what I had to do. We had to get them out of the water."

Hear from the deputy and master pilot who assisted in the rescue:

Cox Media Group