JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a stolen truck backed up into Haskell Marine and took off with a customer's $45,000 Key West fishing boat Tuesday afternoon, Buddy Haskell found someone driving that truck with the boat still on the trailer and wanted it back, police said.
Haskell said he and a friend of his followed the alleged thief and attempted to box the driver in near the intersection of Pottsburg Creek and Atlantic Boulevard. Haskell said the driver took off, jumped a median and raced the wrong way down Atlantic Boulevard.
"We saw the guy driving down the street and gave pursuit and ran him down to Atlantic Boulevard. He didn't know we were behind him and then we stopped in front of him and tried to box him in," Haskell said. "He went across the median and all the way down Pottsburg Creek and the wrong way down Atlantic Boulevard."
Haskell continued chasing the boat down Atlantic Boulevard until the person driving the truck tried to race through a gas station parking lot at Art Museum Drive and Atlantic Boulevard, hit a curb, popped a tire and flipped the trailer holding the boat, throwing it off and into the truck being driven by Haskell, officials said.
Police continued to look for the suspect, bringing in K-9 and helicopter units to search for a suspect Haskell described as a light skinned bald headed guy with a lot of tattoos standing about 5 feet 8 or 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing about 185 pounds.
Haskell also said the man was with a heavy set Hispanic woman with long brown hair.