No matter how many individuals appear in the pages of each edition of Keys Weekly, there are always so many more of our community members who deserve to be recognized. In an effort to shine a spotlight on more of the incredible individuals who live and work in these islands, Keys Weekly is proud to present our Neighbor of the Week feature, dedicated to celebrating a community member with each issue.
This week’s neighbor is Officer Estaban Andrade of the Key West Police Department, who works on Bravo Night Patrol, which he says is the best shift in the department. Andrade has been with the KWPD since 2021. When he’s not protecting and serving the people of Key West, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife and his teenage kids (when they let him).
What’s the dumbest question someone has asked you while on duty? “Can you pretend to arrest me for my social media?”
Any brushes with death? Thankfully, I have not had many; what a weird question. But mine was a tandem skydiving incident for my 40th birthday. The chute did not open properly, and I could hear, and feel, the instructor struggling. Thankfully the instructor was able to rectify the issue, although he did say he was “a second away from cutting the main and going to the reserve,” something he said he’d never done in all his years and was dreading. He was shaking and sweating profusely when we landed.
What’s something you absolutely refuse to learn how to do? Social media.
How long have you been in the Keys and what brought you here? We have been in the Keys since December 2014. We’ve lived all over the Lower Keys, including Sunshine Key, Big Pine Key and then we moved to Key West in 2018. The brutal cold of Pennsylvania brought our family here.
What’s your funniest family vacation story? When I was a kid, we went to my mom’s great aunt’s ranch, where they had horses. My older brother and I decided to go for a ride with our father, each on our own horse. Well, my brother didn’t tighten his saddle properly (despite telling our dad that he knew how to do it). When the saddle started sliding, he wound up riding on one side of the horse, then underneath the horse. I still don’t know how he managed to hang on. Our father was able to get the horse to stop.
If you had a time machine, would you travel to the future or to the past and why? I’d travel to the future to get the Powerball numbers, duh.
Know someone who would be a good “neighbor to meet?” Email keysweeklyjen@gmail.com.
