Police say man jumped off boat onto bridge after they said not to

Police say a man didn’t wait for a boat to be towed to safety after it got stuck, and he ended up in police custody.

The Naples Police Department arrested Joseph Turner on Tuesday after he jumped off a cruise boat onto Gordon River Bridge in Naples. Police say they told Turner not to jump, but he did anyway after the boat he was on became lodged against the bridge.

Officers told people to stay on the boat for their safety because it would be too dangerous to jump off once the boat was stuck, but Turner is accused of not waiting or listening to orders from law enforcement.

“We were just serving tables, and someone was like, ‘The boat is sideways on the bridge,’” said Hunter Alexander, who works at Tin City. “They started to back it up, and we heard scratching noises and stuff.”

Video shows the boat full of passengers after a strong current trapped it against Gordon Pass Bridge.

“We were like, ‘Oh, that’s not going anywhere,’” Alexander said.

It caused quite a commotion at the restaurant where Alexander works.

“We had a table right here,” Alexander said. “It was like dinner and a show.”

Cora Iancu happen to be driving by during the active scene.

“There were police cars, fire trucks and EMS,” Iancu said.

But officers says passenger Turner didn’t want to wait to be rescued.

“I mean, it’s Florida,” Turner said. “People are crazy. They do whatever they want to do.”

Turner ended up in handcuffs.

“Somebody could have actually fell in or get hurt,” Iancu said.

The owner of tourism business Pure Florida says the boat was towed in, and after around 20 minutes of being stuck, the passengers and crew members walked off safely.

“Eventually they got it back here, and the dinner rush at 9:50 started,” Alexander said.

Pure Florida says this is the first time a boat got stuck against the bridge in its 13 years of business.

Turner faces a misdemeanor charge