[Opening shot with a revving car engine sound as an image of a Nassau County Sheriff Chevy SUV flies
onto the screen]
On-Screen Text: “Cruisin’ the Streets with the Sheriff
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
[Standing in front of the Nassau County Administration Office] Hello, everyone. I’m Sheriff Bill Leeper,
and welcome to a new edition of Cruisin’ the Streets with the Sheriff. Now, this is where I ride with one
of our deputies just to see what goes on around Nassau County. Today I’m riding with Deputy Michael
Pensa. So, let’s buckle up and go cruisin’. [Walks to his left towards a parked Nassau County Sheriff
Chevy SUV while upbeats music plays]
[Sheriff Bill Leeper reaches the SUV, opens the passenger side door, and get into the passenger seat]
[SUV starts reversing before driving forward to make a left turn and head away from the camera]
[Shows the interior of the SUV, featuring a two-shot captured through the front-facing perspective.
Sheriff Bill Leeper is in the passenger seat, Deputy Michael Pensa is driving, and a person is seated in the
backseat behind Sheriff Bill Leeper]
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
Well, Michael, I certainly appreciate you letting me ride with you today. It’s an honor for me to be out
here and kind of see what goes on in Nassau County and appreciate the ride along.
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Absolutely.
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
Can you tell me really what got you interested in being a law enforcement officer?
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Well, what got me interested in being a law enforcement officer, actually I had a friend still works over
there, on Fernandina Police Department. I did a few ride longs with him. Kind of got me interested in
working here. I liked what he did. I liked that we weren’t contained to a desk, you know?.
[Close up of Deputy Michael Pensa’s shoulder, showing the Nassau County Sheriff Badge]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
We got to interact with different people all day. Got to help people where you could. So, that kind of got
me interested in it.
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
Well, that’s cool. What made you want to come to work with the [Shows a two-shot front-facing
perspective] Nassau County Sheriff’s office?
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Whenever I decided that I wanted to go into the field of law enforcement, I was 19. I started as a reserve
with the Fernandina Beach Police Department. Realized that I still had like a lot to learn as far as like
gaining life experience.
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
You like working here?
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Absolutely.
Deputy Michael Pensa:
I get to do something different every day. It’s a great agency to work for. I have no complaints really to
speak of, and uh I get to help my community that I live in. I live right over in Hilliard, so it’s like I get to
work at home you know, help my neighbors.
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
We are blessed to live in an area where our citizens support what we do and work together with us and
try to keep everybody as safe as possible.
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Absolutely.
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
Thank you for that.
[Fast forwards , both speakers are still in the car]
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
I hear we got a call. Where are we going?
Deputy Michael Pensa:
As a matter of fact, we have a VIN verification down on Majestic Walk, so we’re going to go down there.
[Shows Deputy Michael Pensa in a parking lot, looking over a vehicle.]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
30120.
[Back in the SUV.]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
And why people get their VINs verified by us is because sometimes people will steal a car and if they
were just to take it to the DMV
[Shows Deputy Michael in a parking lot, looking over a different car]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
and say, “Hey, I need a plate for this car right here.” If the VIN number wasn’t run, then the DMV would
just blindly give people a plate and then they would have a good plate for a car that they just stole.
[Back to the SUV.]
So, whenever we come out here and run the VIN, we’re just ensuring that the car wasn’t stolen.
[New scene showing the car’s dashboard and the road, film from the back seat. Loud police siren can be
heard as the car drives down a road.]
On-Screen Text: Plane Crash in Hillard
[Deputy Michael Pensa approaches and talks to an officer. Music plays in the background.]
Officer 1:
[Pointing towards the crash] The crash is right behind the right rear of the house.
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Okay.
Officer 1:
He hit a tree. It’s one of those experimental… [indistinguishable talking]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Was it manned?
Officer 1:
Yeah.
Deputy Michael Pensa:
You got it? All right.
Officer 1:
Yeah, yeah. The pilot’s over here in the – [indistinguishable talking]
[Deputy Michael Pensa and the Officer starts walking towards the scene of the crash]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Is he good?
Officer 1:
Yeah. Yeah. He’s just bruised up… An experimental craft.
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Was like a U.F.F.?
[Deputy Michael Pensa and the Officer continues walking on a grass lawn. An off-screen officer
approaches.]
Officer 2:
[indistinguishable talking]… He said the instructor said he stole it when he …[indistinguishable talking]
[Deputy Michael Pensa and both Officers walk together. Inaudible talking continues]
[Shows the scene of the crash, showing a house and the crashed plane]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Hey, LC.
[Shows a zoom in of the crashed plane]
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
[Pointing to the plane. Down here, you can see he estimated he had about six gallons of fuel on board.
Some of its leaking out now. We’re trying to figure out where the well is here or the septic tank. He was
doing maneuvers. He’d been flying about two months and he was on his own doing some maneuvers.
[Pointing around] He stalled out, came down in this tree, struck this tree, and kind of helped us fall from
going directly into the ground. And very lucky he just had minor injuries.
[Shows Sheriff Bill Leeper walking down a road alongside multiple parked vehicle]
[Deputy Michael Pensa appears from off-screen and approaches two officers]
Deputy Michael Pensa:
Have you been taking care… [indistinguishable talking]]?
Officer 3:
Oh yes, I have.
Officer 4:
[indistinguishable talking]].
[Shows Sheriff Bill Leeper standing outside of the SUV and closing the passenger side door before looking
at the camera]
Sheriff Bill Leeper:
Well, that’s a wrap. I want to thank Deputy Pensa for giving us a ride [upbeat music starts playing] and
kind of see what goes on around Nassau County. We started out just checking VIN numbers. Next thing
you know, we have a plane crash, so you never know what’s going to happen during your shift.
Appreciate you watching, tuning in, and we’ll see you next time on Cruisin’ the Streets with the Sheriff.