DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WHDH) — A 19-year-old waitress suffered several broken bones after diving off a pier in an attempt to save a young boy who got caught in a rip current in Florida on Saturday.
Hanna Pignato was working on the rooftop of Crabby Joe’s Deck & Grill just before 8 p.m. when she saw an 8-year-old child struggling in the water off Daytona Beach.
She ran down to the pier level and jumped about 20 feet down into the shallow water.
“Right when I jumped, I was like, ‘I’m done,'” she said. “When I hit the bottom floor, it was like maybe 2 feet, 3 feet.”
Pignato instantly broke bones in her foot and back but that didn’t stop her from trying to save the kid in distress.
“I’m a good swimmer so I was like, I can get to this kid, but I should have walked down to the pier a little bit more and done it,” she said.
Pignato recalled the boy’s mother screaming as he kept getting pulled farther out into the water.
“She was screaming bloody Mary, like just screaming. I could just hear the fear in her eyes,” she said. “I was scared. Everybody was scared. I’m like thinking in my head, that kid is going to die because no one is in the water.”
Bystanders and beach safety officers eventually got to the boy and Pignato and rescued them from the water.
The boy had swallowed a lot of water and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Pignato was also hospitalized and treated for broken bones.
Looking back at those panicked moments, Pignato says the rough surf may have led her to misjudge the depth of the water, but that there was really no time to think about her actions.
“I love when families are with families because I know what it’s like not to have my family and I didn’t want her to go home without hers,” she said. “I’m just happy, I’m thankful, I’m grateful.”
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