A West Seattle boat owner is telling his tale of stopping a boat prowler – on his own boat – leading to a chase on Puget Sound.
The owner says his boat was docked along Fauntleroy Cove late Tuesday morning when he got a text from a neighbor warning him someone was on his boat.
“It was a guy that was in the cabin of my boat,” said the boat owner, Garrett, who asked us not to use his last name.
“I asked ‘what the **** are you doing on my boat?’ And he said, ‘I’m authorized to be out here; somebody told me- one of my friends told me that this boat is abandoned,’” said Garrett.
Garrett believes the man had stuff taken from other nearby boats already on his inflatable, saying, “His boat was loaded with gear – inflatable SUPs that were folded up, gear bags, there was a beautiful stainless steel nautical spotlight that had been taken off a yacht.”
Garrett caught part of the heated exchange with the stranger on video.
“Did you take stuff off my boat?” questioned Garrett.
“I didn’t take a **** thing off your boat,” responded the man.
As the suspected thief took off north, Garrett followed in a smaller boat, and the confrontation on the water continued.
Along the way, Garrett called the Coast Guard, and they began pursuing.
“He displayed his knife out in the middle of the sound at us.”
Garrett says they got closer near Elliott Bay Marina.
“They follow him all the way up to the entrance to Elliot Bay Marina and just before the entrance, he headed straight and ran his boat onto the rocks, jumped off and disappeared into the woods.”
Garrett believes he saw the same man on that inflatable prowling through the cove the night before.
“We thought it was strange. I didn’t know who it was. I actually thought it was another neighbor that had their inflatable, just kind of checking on some of the boats and it wasn’t until the following day when he was on my boat and I recognized him,” said Garrett.
After releasing pictures on social media, Garrett says he heard from other boaters who believe they’ve spotted the man in other areas.
The SPD Harbor Patrol Unit is now investigating.
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