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Editorial: Deputies' rescue reflects best in law enforcement

 
Published Nov. 17, 2017

The bravery two Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies showed a week ago is a credit to them and reflects the professionalism of the office.

Deputies Benjamin Thompson and Trent Migues responded at dusk Nov. 11 after 82-year-old Leona Evans of Webster crashed her sport utility vehicle near Plant City, went airborne over an embankment, crashed through a chain-link fence and ended up in a pond. The arriving deputies saw that bystanders already had tied a rope to the vehicle to pull it out. But the doors wouldn't budge, and no one "had the tools to do anything," Thompson said.

Thompson stripped away his utility belt and boots and swam to the SUV, treading water as he tried to calm the driver and assess the situation. With the passenger door refusing to open, Thompson grabbed his baton and beat on the window — "I hit it for all of my life," he said. On the sixth blow it shattered. He leaned over the broken glass, grabbing Evans by the waist. But she was stuck. Then the SUV — with Evans and the deputy — slipped underwater.

Migues and a bystander grabbed Thompson's ankles as the vehicle sank in the pond and the two made it to the surface. Evans was taken to a Lakeland hospital. Thompson was cut on his face and hands. All in all, more than a good day's work.

Theirs was an extraordinary response to a tragic situation that took dangerous twists along the way. The deputies' bravery, preparedness and commitment to see the rescue through shows the best in law enforcement and a standard for public service in this community.