The video, “Charter Captain jumps on my boat and tries to fight me for no reason,” has been watched over 500,000 times on YouTube. It shows the conflict between 22-year-old Gage Towles and 40-year-old Brock Horner.
Horner, who owns Tarpon Coast Fishing Charters, has since been arrested and charged with burglary and assault or battery. This is according to the Punta Gorda Police Department and the Daytona Beach News-Journal, which are both part of the USA TODAY Network.
In the video, Towles is fishing alone in a boat near a bridge when Horner and four men approach him in another ship.
In the video, Horner asks Towles if he had been “cussing” him out earlier that day. “No,” he replies.
Horner, sure he was the same person, continued shouting at Towles in the video. Towles said he had him confused with someone else and told him he couldn’t come “flying through the bridge area.” This made Horner even more angry, and he asked Towles if he wanted to “go (expletive) up.”
Towles replied, “I don’t want to go… I want you to get out of here.” Towles reminded Horner that he had approached him and was trying to fish.
“You’re the best charter captain you’ll ever meet.”Towles asks Horner if he’s trying to be “tough in front of his buddies,” Horner says they’re all veterans. Towles thanks him for his service.
But the video shows Horner still swearing and shouting.
He even says he’s the “best charter captain you will ever meet in your (expletive) life,” a line that has since gone viral on social media.
Then, the video shows him jumping into Towles’ boat, hitting the throttle, and taking off the boat with the two of them inside.
Punta Gorda Police said in a statement that Horner “pulled his vessel alongside the victim’s boat without permission and unlawfully boarded it.” They say that Horner threatened the victim during this time, which made the situation worse.
At the end of the video, Towles drove him back to his own boat, saying sorry while Horner continued to threaten him.
Towles said he put the video on YouTube to “save another person” or “possibly someone’s life by getting this captain off the water.”
The police, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Coast Guard are all investigating.
Gulf Coast News reported that Horner’s lawyer said his client has apologized to Towles and “is not proud of how he acted.”
The statement obtained by Gulf Coast News said that since the video went viral, Brock’s business has been destroyed, his reputation damaged, and his family — including his wife and mother — have been harassed and even threatened.
The attorney also said that Horner is a decorated veteran who served in Afghanistan and suffered “a traumatic brain injury in combat.”
Jail records seen by USA TODAY show that Horner paid a bond to leave Charlotte County Jail.
On Monday, Towles’s lawyer, Steven Leskovich, asked people to stop threatening Horner’s family.
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