Hooters boat involved in chase

A 38-foot fishing boat emblazoned with the Hooters restaurant logo is back in the hands of its North Carolina owner after a highway chase that led to the arrest of a Mobile-area hunter and sport fisherman, according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

Edmund H. "Eddie" Smith IV was released on a $2,050 bond Tuesday on charges of menacing, reckless endangerment and carrying a pistol without a permit, sheriff's spokesman Chad Tucker said.

Alabama State Troopers called the Sheriff's Office at 5 p.m. Monday after witnessing the end of a chase between Smith and Alden Thornton of North Carolina.

Thornton, who was towing the boat, and Smith, who was chasing him, both "flew into the median" of Dauphin Island Parkway, near Interstate 10, Tucker said.

"A trooper had actually witnessed Edmund Smith beating a .45-caliber pistol against the window in his vehicle," Tucker said, adding that Smith was "tapping the gun on the window toward" Thornton.

Thornton had repossessed the boat from Smith, Tucker said. At the scene, however, Smith told authorities that Thornton had stolen the boat from him.

"At the scene on I-10, we were unable to determine who was the rightful owner of the boat, so we impounded it," Tucker said.

A judge later ruled that the boat, a Fountain Tournament Edition with four 250-horsepower engines, belonged to Thornton. Authorities released the vessel to him, Tucker said.

Full Story Here