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Pasco brothers honored for lifesaving efforts

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2009

Patrick and Garret Pinder of New Port Richey were spearfishing with their father about 20 miles off Hernando Beach in May when they saw someone waving from the water nearby.

The brothers unhitched their father's boat from its diving buoy and drove it toward the person in distress. They pulled from the water Timothy and Paula Allen of Ocoee, who had been adrift in the Gulf of Mexico since becoming separated from their boat about 20 hours earlier.

The Pinder brothers, both students at Gulf High School, were rewarded for their quick thinking today by Pasco County commissioners. Commissioners were joined by Ocoee Mayor Scott Vandergrift and Ocoee Police Chief Charlie Brown, who thanked the Pinders for saving the lives of Allen, a city police officer, and his wife.

"It's a tremendous thing for us," said Vandergrift, mayor of the city near the southern shore of Lake Apopka in Orange County. "I can't tell you how much we appreciate it, but we really do."

Vandergrift gave Patrick, 18, and Garret, 17, each an Ocoee Hero Award, only two of five the mayor said he had given in more than 20 years in office.

Brown gave the brothers the Chief's Special Award, an honor reserved for distinguished police officers and citizens in Ocoee or for distinguished actions by others. Along with a plaque, Brown gave the Pinders the pins officers who win the award wear on their uniforms.

"They saved the lives of two people who are very close to us," Brown said.

The Allens weren't able to attend Tuesday's awards ceremony.

"They're on a cruise, believe it or not," Brown said, drawing a laugh from the audience.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.

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