Capt. Kevin Freestone of TowBoatUS Big Pine Key, Florida, was honored with the 2024 Woody Pollak Award during the annual TowBoatUS Conference in Las Vegas for lifesaving acts. Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore/BoatUS
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Capt. Kevin Freestone of TowBoatUS Big Pine Key, Florida, responded to a vessel bridge strike with eight passengers aboard, earning him a TowBoatUS Woody Pollak Award.
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SPRINGFIELD, VA., Feb. 4, 2025 – For the more than 600 red boats of TowBoatUS, the on-water towing and assistance fleet for recreational boaters, a routine day typically includes towing disabled boats back to the launch ramp, providing battery jumps, dropping off fuel, or offering a gentle tug out of the shallows. For each of these towboat captains and crews, however, one workday was far from routine.

At the annual gathering of the TowBoatUS fleet, company owners, captains and BoatUS staff honored eight captains in Florida, Washington, Virginia and Michigan who selflessly acted to provide good Samaritan lifesaving assistance in 2024. A Woody Pollak Award, the highest honor in TowBoatUS lifesaving and named for the late Capt. Woody Pollak who died on duty and was known for his unselfish acts, was bestowed along with seven Meritorious Service Awards.

Woody Pollak Award: Capt. Kevin Freestone, TowBoatUS Big Pine Key, Florida

It’s a call that no TowBoatUS captain wants to hear. Late one midsummer night at 1:30 a.m., TowBoatUS Big Pine Key received an urgent request from Monroe County Fire Rescue asking for assistance with a 35-foot center-console with eight passengers aboard that struck a concrete bridge. Children were aboard, and persons were thought to be in the water. TowBoatUS Big Pine Key immediately launched two response boats, with Capt. Kevin Freestone the first to arrive on scene and the second following minutes later.

It was immediately apparent to Capt. Freestone that the large center-console was full of passengers when it struck the bridge at high speed. The boat had heavy bow damage, its leaning post and center-console ripped free. When he arrived, it was pinned against the bridge in heavy current, listing to port. With no on-water assets available, first responders on the bridge were using a ladder to evacuate passengers who were able to do so. Not everyone was.

Capt. Freestone swiftly laid his 26-foot towboat alongside the stricken vessel, pinning the response boat’s bow under the tangled vessel’s T-top to prevent it from capsizing with three critically injured persons still aboard, including a 12-year-old boy screaming in pain. The operator of the vessel had a makeshift tourniquet around his leg, and he had lost a lot of blood. With the vessel flooding in the swift current, there wasn’t much time.

With the help of EMTs, Freestone took the three injured aboard and carefully pulled away. The wreck immediately capsized. Freestone then rushed the injured with responders to shore where life flights were waiting. All eight persons survived the incident.

As a result of his actions and act of selflessness, Freestone was later recognized by the Monroe Board of County Commissioners, receiving the first S.A.F.E.R. award (Selfless Actions For Emergency Response) for his lifesaving actions.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. James Freeman, TowBoatUS Tarpon Springs, Florida

While headed to a routine call for assistance one February afternoon, Capt. James Freeman approached the Dunedin Causeway where a bystander on the bridge flagged him down, yelling that a man had jumped from the bridge and was in the water.

Capt. Freeman immediately activated his response vessel’s emergency lights and swung around to the person in the water. Upon approaching the man, Freeman tossed a rescue line, but the man refused to take it, instead forcing himself below the water face-down. After cautioning an approaching vessel to pull back, Freeman made operating room to reposition himself closer. As he did so, the suicidal man expressed his unwillingness to be recovered. That was when Captain Freeman grabbed his boat hook and secured the man in the arm pit and shirt, pulled him safely alongside, then lifted him into the towboat.

Lying prone on the deck of the vessel, the man stated that he wanted to die and began to squirm. Capt. Freeman restrained the man while he sped to nearby police and EMS. He was unable to transfer the bridge jumper at that location due to an obstruction, so a Pinellas County Sheriff boarded the vessel and secured him. Both were safely transported to awaiting EMS crews.

Though he received an injury during his actions, Freeman continued to his original stranding call, advising the customer about the unexpected delay. He later recovered.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. Kevin Lankowicz, TowBoatUS Tarpon Springs, Florida

Around lunchtime on a summer weekday, Capt. Kevin Lankowicz received a call for routine service about 40 miles offshore. On his way out of Clearwater Pass, Lankowicz noticed two personal watercrafts (PWCs) about a mile offshore. He was troubled by what he saw.

One watercraft was unoccupied, slowly idling in circles, while the other had a man on board and a woman in the water, gripping the PWC. A third woman, in an undersized life jacket, swam over to the unoccupied circling PWC but was unable to reboard. Lankowicz asked the woman in the water with the undersized life jacket if she knew how to swim. In a panicked state, she replied "no.” The TowBoatUS captain maneuvered the towboat to her side and shut down the engines. He reached out to her, grabbed her hand, and told her to let go of the PWC, assuring her that she would be safe in his hands.

After catching her breath, she finally let go of the PWC, and Lankowicz held her head out of the water while he guided her to his swim ladder. She was able to climb the ladder into the towboat where she rested. After declining further assistance, she safely transferred back to the PWC. The two watercraft then carefully proceeded back to land.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. Danielle Farace, TowBoatUS Tacoma, Washington

While en route to a member tow, a TowBoatUS Everett crew overheard a vessel calling out to law enforcement on VHF channel 16. The caller stated he needed advice on how to enter Everett. When law enforcement didn't answer, Capt. Danielle Farace of TowBoatUS Tacoma responded, asking what the vessel needed. The vessel master reported he was on a 36-foot powerboat and stated that he had been treated for heat stroke. Feeling lightheaded and confused, he needed help getting into Everett.

Capt. Farace advised the boater that she would be on location within five minutes. Once she arrived, she deftly pulled the TowBoatUS response vessel alongside the powerboat to make verbal contact with the vessel's two occupants. After speaking with the occupants and recognizing the need, Farace offered to board the vessel, check out the male and assist the couple to the Port of Everett where first responders would meet them.

While Farace’s crew took the towboat back to Everett, Farace monitored the patient’s condition, assisting with the operation of the vessel, safely getting the boat back to Everett where the man was delivered to awaiting EMS.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. Gilbert James Jr., TowBoatUS Potomac Marine, Woodbridge, Virginia

On a late summer afternoon, a good Samaritan called Capt. Gilbert James of TowBoatU.S. Potomac Marine to notify him of a boat in distress near Fairview Beach on the Potomac River. Just minutes later, Capt. James was underway at the helm of the towboat Aquia when the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed over VHF radio that a vessel capsized just west of Fairview Beach. A severe thunderstorm had just passed through the area, and the National Weather service had issued a small craft warning with gusts up 39 knots and waves upward of 2 feet. Five persons were now in the water with one missing.

Using his knowledge of the river and weather conditions, Capt. James swiftly located, with the help of another good Samaritan, the capsized pontoon boat, where he found the five victims without life jackets clinging to the vessel. Capt. James and his son, Ryan, safely approached the pontoon to remove all five souls from of the water.

Once aboard, Capt. James’ 23-years’ experience as a Prince George’s County firefighter paramedic helped him to quickly assess the victims for any major medical attention while safely transported them to awaiting EMS crews. One victim required transfer to the hospital where they were treated for minor injuries.

Sadly, a day later, first responders located the missing victim tangled in the wreckage of the pontoon when Capt. James parbuckled it during salvage operations.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. Christopher Lakeman, TowBoatUS Big Pine Key, Florida

On a late Spring afternoon, Capt. Chris Lakeman of TowBoatUS Big Pine Key was in the area of Content Keys on the Gulf side of the Lower Florida Keys, helping out two different grounded vessels on opposite sides of an island.

While traveling from one case to the other, Capt. Lakeman headed into the Gulf of Mexico to go around the island. Winds and seas picked up dramatically from flat calm to 3- to 4-foot short-stacked waves. As Capt. Lakeman slowly quartered his way in the rough seas, he encountered a small 17-foot flats boat overturned with items floating around it. The boat hadn’t been there when he went by an hour before, and he intuitively knew this was serious.

Capt. Lakeman immediately began a search and after just few minutes, he came across two men clutching life jackets about 75 yards away from the capsized boat. Waves and whitecaps had made it difficult to see the men, who were safely recovered and brought to shore.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. Kevin Jones, TowBoatUS Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

In a moment of downtime, Capt. Kevin Jones was aboard his company’s “3 Boat” response vessel, talking with his boss on the adjacent “5 Boat,” when their emergency communications app alerted them to a nearby sinking just a short distance away. Both boats immediately responded, but Capt. Jones, in the much faster boat, was first to arrive.

What he saw worried him: A capsized vessel with only its bow poking above water was in the 3-foot chop. A short distance away was second vessel, a 15-foot Key Largo afloat low in the water, had two men aboard, one yelling, “Help! Help! Help! He's gonna sink my boat!”

Capt. Jones swung around the aft end of the Key Largo and discovered a corpulent man in the water hanging on the port quarter, causing a substantial amount of water to enter the vessel. The bilge pump was pumping as fast as it could, and the two men aboard were frantic that the victim was going to drown and possibly sink their boat as well.

Jones radioed that he was going to attempt to pull the man out of the water, but even with safety lines to assist, every effort failed. The victim advised he weighed 450 pounds and expressed concern that he was going to drown. Capt. Jones assured him he wouldn't let that happen.

Shortly thereafter, Capt. Jones’ boss arrived on scene and, unable to come alongside, threw a portable boarding ladder to Capt. Jones. As Jones began to rig the ladder, the victim lost all his strength and slipped beneath the waves. Jones was able to pull the man above water, but he knew there was no way he'd be able to help the man climb the ladder.

While his boss summoned first responders to the scene, Capt. Jones knew he needed to buy time. At only about 185 pounds himself, he summoned all his strength to hold the heavy man out of the water as far as he could. Essentially dead weight in 3-foot seas, the man was beginning to ingest waves, throw up water and panic, repeating he was going to drown. It took everything Capt. Jones had to keep the man’s head above the waves.

A few minutes later, a fireboat with six firefighters arrived on scene and were eventually able to get the man aboard their boat, breaking their vessel’s winch in the process. The man survived.

Meritorious Service Award: Capt. William Leslie, TowBoatUS Lake St. Clair, Michigan

On a spring afternoon a mayday transmission came over VHF channel 16. Dispatcher Kayla Rock intuitively grabbed the mic when she heard a young child pleading for help. The child frantically stated his dad was in the water and was drowning. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to the child’s call and struggled to get the information they needed. The child could not unlock their father’s phone and couldn’t clearly state where they were.

Several different Coast Guard stations asked questions at the same time trying to understand the nature of the distress, but to no avail. The child uttered “next to the Clinton River” and despite having no other information, Capt. William Leslie of TowBoat Lake St. Clair jumped aboard a towboat and headed to the lake. Within five minutes Capt. Leslie spotted a large cruiser near the river and approached. As he was doing so, about 300 yards away, he found a man in the water clutching a lifeless dog. Water temperature that day was only 50 degrees, and the man, whose skin was pale blue, could barely hang on to the frozen dog while trying to stay afloat. Daylight was fast retreating.

The child who had placed the call, the man’s 7-year-old son, watched the rescue unfold as Capt. Leslie first plucked the man, then the small dog, from the freezing water. He handed the man his float coat which he accepted. After bringing the man and dog back to their boat, Capt. Leslie offered to call for additional medical attention, but the man refused.

Once dry, the man stated he was a former Navy Seal rescue diver, and he’d felt confident jumping into the waters to save his dog. While he was able to grab the sinking dog, he was unable to beat the current and get back into his boat. The man struggled hard for 10 minutes before his young son pressed the mayday button on their DSC VHF radio. Despite being extremely young, the boy did as his father had taught him and initiated the entire rescue. After several minutes of monitoring the man – and his dog – recovered and was reunited with his son.

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About TowBoatUS:

Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) is the nation's leading advocacy, services and safety group for recreational boaters. We are the Boat Owners Auto Club™ and provide our more than 725,000 members with a wide array of helpful services, including 24-hour on-water towing that gets you safely home when your boat won’t, jump-starts, fuel delivery, and soft ungroundings. The TowBoatUS towing fleet is North America’s largest network of towing ports with more than 300 locations and over 600 red towboats, responding to more than 110,000 requests for assistance each year. The BoatUS App makes it easy to summon water and road assistance 24/7 and can speed response times (BoatUS.com/App). For more information go to BoatUS.com/Towing.