Florida Charter Boat Captain Commits Piracy On Minor, Doxxed

In the ultimate case of the ‘Florida Man’, a charter boat captain got into an altercation with a youth boater this week and the internet unleashed its power. 

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An Altercation Escalates

In a video that surfaced this week – and then seemed to flood social media everywhere – a younger boater got into an altercation with Captain Brock Horner of Tarpon Coast Fishing Charters. The incident, for which the younger boater witnessed but was not personally involved in, was that another boater was fishing in limited light with no lights on his boat and the Charter Captain sped underneath a bridge too fast for the area.

Here’s the video (NSFW due to language):

The footage was furnished by Gage Towles. While he may have had an escalating tone initially while disputing Horner’s claims, “What are you trying to [expletive] do, bro?” he then quickly backs down and appears to attempt to mostly de-escalate the situation unsuccessfully.

Technically, It’s Piracy, But Also Assault

Declining to “chill, bro” Horner, who claims to be a veteran and on a boat filled with veterans boards Towles boat and commits assault according to Punta Gorda police. Horner was arrested and spent the night in jail according to reports.

The US Congress has some pretty wide-reaching laws

Ҥ1651. Piracy under law of nations

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.

§1655. Assault on commander as piracy

Whoever, being a seaman, lays violent hands upon his commander, to hinder and prevent his fighting in defense of his vessel or the goods intrusted to him, is a pirate, and shall be imprisoned for life.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 774.)” – US Code, House of Representatives

While it’s technically piracy, assault is probably more appropriate and he did illegally board and threaten Towles. But boarding his boat seems to escalate it beyond simply attacking someone on the street. It’s also worth noting that many boaters are armed and the young man, clearly scared and visibly shaking, would have been well within his rights to defend himself including with a gun against an unarmed man.

Altercations like this take place all the time, but imagine being a customer on that charter boat and the captain leaving his ship, boarding the other while he’s shouting and threatening someone younger and clearly intimidated and scared for his safety. It was confirmed by some claiming to be on the charter ship at the time that they were not veterans as claimed, did not support the actions, did not engage with the Towles and called Horner back to the ship.

“The Punta Gorda Police Department has arrested 40-year-old Brock Horner. The charger boat captain at the center of a boat rage incident on Charlotte Harbor.

The Police Department says following an investigation Horner was arrested and charged with Burglary with Assault or Battery.

Police say after reviewing video evidence their marine unit established probably cause to charge Horner in connection with unlawful boarding and threats made during the altercation.

Police say “During the unauthorized entry, Horner reportedly threatened the victim, escalating the situation into a criminal offense.”

Gage Towels posted the video of the incident on social media and it’s now gained national attention, many online calling for the arrest after seeing the video.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the US Coast Guard are also conducting separate investigations.”

– Fox 4 (Charlotte, Florida)

The Internet Doxxes Captain

With tens of millions of views all over the web, netizens went into hyper sleuth mode and found just about everything out about Captain Brock Horner. The information is publicly available for those who want to explore more into this man’s past, but I will not do that here. What I will say is that it doesn’t appear to be out of character for the captain, but his past issues or even a lack of a record altogether wouldn’t change whether his actions were right or wrong.

Conclusion

It’s been just a couple of weeks since I reviewed a fantastic charter experience we had in the British Virgin Islands and the reason this site continues to report on great operators (and not so great ones) is to improve experiences for the traveling public. This captain, whether he was having a bad day or not, should not have “flown” through the area he admitted to doing whether others were in the area or not. He certainly should not have engaged with the Mr. Towles in the way he did prior to boarding the man’s boat, and never taking it to the extent that he did. He shouldn’t be in the business of serving the public, he endangered others, and should be out of business.

What do you think?