The “best charter captain you’ll ever meet” was arrested by police in south Florida this week after a video showing him berating and then boarding the boat of a young fisherman went viral.
The clip shows Brock Horner, 40, on a boat with others yelling at the man recording the video in Punta Gorda, Florida, just south of Fort Myers. The issue is apparently Horner speeding in the area while he accused the fisherman, Gage Towels, of not having his lights and of “cussing him out.” The incident occurred on April 1.
Horner is now charged with burglary with assault or battery. The video shows the verbal confrontation escalate to the point where Horner boards the other man’s boat to continue threatening him. Police say that at this point, Horner grabbed Towels’ shirt.
The man panics, profusely apologizing and attempting to defuse the situation. The conversation ends as the other man takes Horner back to his boat.
The Punta Gorda Police Department confirmed that Horner was arrested based on the video. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard are investigating the case.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated in our waterways—or anywhere else in our city. We are committed to ensuring the safety of our residents and visitors, both on land and on the water,” police chief Pam Smith said this week.
But I was already having a horrible day and this iced the cake. I look at it now like I possibly can save another person from Brock Horner or possibly someone’s life by getting this captain off the water,” Towles wrote in the description of the video.
Since the video spread online, The Fisherman’s Village in Punta Gorda has announced that it has cut ties with Horner, reports The Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
One of the other men on Horner’s boat has been identified as a local firefighter.
The video has spread to such a degree that a charter captain who lives 100 miles from Punta Gorda and has a similar name to Horner has now been receiving death threats.
“Because we had the first name, people somehow assumed that I was the culprit… It has been completely a nightmare,” Capt. Brock Wagner told WFLA.