FLORIDA DEPUTY THANKS EAST NAPLES FIRE DEPARTMENT FIREFIGHTERS

Alternate driver engineer Tony Palermo and probationary firefighter Stephen Thigpen – saved Deputy Billy Pschigoda’s life last year. “It was all teamwork,” he recalled during an emotional surprise ceremony at East Naples Fire station 20 on Davis Boulevard. “These are my three new heroes. They were in the right place at the right time. It was mid-day in high season, but they stepped up.

“You saved my life and many others. God bless you,” he said, hanging Life Saving Award medals around their necks. It was Dec. 5 when Pschigoda, 41, a corporal with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, waved over the unsuspecting crew of Engine 21 to slow an out-of-control car being chased by deputies. The trio quickly maneuvered the big, green truck into position across Collier Boulevard near the intersection at US 41 while the veteran law enforcement officer laid stop-sticks in place.

Moments later, a car driven at speeds of up to 80 mph by 21-year-old Jesus Moreno, struck Pschigoda, sending him flying through the air. Billy’s head smashed the windshield of Moreno’s Hyundai. Ironically, sources say the windshield may actually have broken Pschigoda’s headfirst dive into the pavement.

During the June 12 East Naples Fire Board meeting, Deputy Chief Leo Davis read from the firefighters’ commendation letter. “We are prepared to, and do, run numerous serious vehicle crashes yearly, but it’s usually after the crash has occurred. The sight of a person being struck right in front of you is both startling and horrifying, but it is magnified more if the person struck is someone you know.”

The letter acknowledged how hard it is to remain focused and professional while rendering aid to someone you know and care about.

Thigpen called the award “the World Series of my job.”

“This is why I got this job. It makes my life worth living,” he said, adding, “It’s not about the award. It’s seeing somebody like that walk out of that hospital.”

“I wish I had not received it and Billy had never gotten hit,” Palermo said of the honor. “But it happened and it’s reality.” Pschigoda said he has no recollection of the entire day that he was hit. The last memory he has is from Christmas shopping with his family the day before, he said. The next thing he remembers is waking up in a hospital.

The crash broke all the bones in Pschigoda’s face. He had a large hole on the right side of his forehead and a softball-sized crack on his head, he said. He has since lost his sense of taste and control of the muscles on the right side of his face.

For the last six months Pschigoda has undergone a series of surgeries and rehabilitation therapy. Looking at him, the only noticeable sign of trauma is scarring on the right side of his forehead.

Pschigoda is hopeful that in about six more months he’ll be able to return to the Sheriff’s Office in the same capacity as the day he was hit.

Meanwhile, Moreno, a documented gang member with several arrests for cocaine and other charges, is still in the Collier County jail facing up to 30 years in state prison on the two most serious charges against him — attempted first-degree murder and aggravated fleeing and eluding with serious bodily injury.

“That guy was suicidal,” Pschigoda said. “He had no care for anyone that day.”