SAN DIEGO — A local business owner and philanthropist had a confrontation at the Marriot Marina on Sunday afternoon with a 21-year-old employee on the dock in front of hundreds of people.
It ended with the businessman dropping his pants and screaming from the back of his boat.
When the $4.5 million Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 yacht rolled into the Marriott Marina Sunday, everyone stopped to stare and take pictures and videos.
One of those people was Joseph Holt who works at the private dock.
But when the driver tried to pick up someone here, Holt had to stop him.
“I told him respectfully that he couldn't be there, and I honestly was hoping to have a conversation with him about his cool boat. But yeah, it completely went the other way,” Holt said.
Ajay Thakore is the owner of the yacht. He’s also known as Ace Rogers. CBS 8 has spoke with him about his business and philanthropy. But Hot said that’s not the Rogers that he met at the marina.
“It escalated immediately. It was 0 to 100 immediately,” he said.
Holt said Rogers threatened his life and there’s a YouTube video that shows it.
The video showed Rogers standing on the end of his yacht a few feet away from Holt who is standing on the dock. Rogers’ screams echo through the marina.
Rogers is heard on the video shouting, “I will kill you. I will kill you. I will kill you.”
Holt said Rogers got out his wallet and continued his vicious tirade toward him as he threw $100 bills at him and into the water.
“I’m a minimum wage worker, he was commenting on that, on my status just because of my job. He was saying I'm nobody, I’m nothing, I work a silly job. He said that he knows people, he has connections, he can change my life and ruin it," Holt said.
In the video, you can see Holt standing on the dock as the boat pulls away.
“I really didn't know how to process it. I really was trying to restrain myself from getting fired from my job or stepping out of line. The only thing I did was give him the bird," he said.
“He had dropped his pants and started to make gestures to everybody watching and me. You can't act that way in public. It's just not ok. Especially threatening my life, at the very least. There were women and children there. That's the most important part," hold said.
CBS 8 received a statement from Ace Rogers sent by his public relations team that said,
“The interaction that occurred yesterday was regrettable. What started as a minor misunderstanding escalated into an argument, and I apologize for my actions and to those who witnessed the unfortunate exchange.”
Harbor Police arrived about 10 minutes after Rogers and his yacht left the marina. Holt said he told them what happened but he felt the officer did not take it seriously and was even chuckling.
In response to CBS 8's request for comment on the incident, Harbor Police said,
"On March 10, 2024 at 4:47 pm, Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department officers responded to a call of a possible intoxicated vessel operator at the Seaforth Boat Rental dock in the San Diego Marriott Marquis Marina. The suspects left the area prior to the officers arriving at the scene. Officers spoke with the reporting party of the call and took a report on the incident. (Case Number: 24-01090). "