A video that’s gone viral on TikTok shows a man furiously confronting two boys fishing by a lake, breaking one of their fishing rods, then yelling at them and demanding they leave the property.
In a set of three videos posted by the TikTok account @FishnShi, a man identified as 62-year-old Matthew Webster approached the boys who were fishing near his home in Admirals Landing neighborhood in East Knoxville, Tennessee.
In one video, Webster is seen barreling toward one 15-year-old boy, snatching his fishing rod away, and attempting to snap it in half.
“Don’t touch my rod! Don’t f***ing touch my rod!” the other 15-year-old boy is heard saying as he records the encounter with Webster.
Webster begins to repeatedly assert that the teens were “trespassing on private property” and demands them to leave. “Leave, leave! Get the hell out of here, now!” yells Webster.
He also threatens to throw the boys’ phones and fishing rods into the lake and press charges.
One of the boys tells Webster that they’ll wait for the police to come, which riles Webster even further.
“We’re gonna prosecute you, and you’re gonna pay all kinds of money because you’re being a d***,” Webster told the boy.
Two other adults accompanying Webster also ask for the boys’ names to figure out whether they live in the neighborhood, but the teens refuse their requests, saying they’ll give all their information to the police when they arrive.
One of adults insinuate the boys are lying as one of them allegedly claim their last name was Smith. “Hey listen, he knows everyone,” she says. “He’s the president, he’s lived here for years.”
As Webster continues to bark demands, one boy says he notices his breath smells like alcohol.
“You’re right. I had a drink. Is that against the law, you dumb s***?” Webster responded.
At one point, he charges toward one boy and towers over him in an intimidating manner.
According to DailyMail.com, Webster was a former regional president for the Dover Corporation, an international industrial manufacturer.
He now chairs a Catholic volunteer group called the Haiti Outreach Program at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville. The program reportedly raises money from the community to provide children in Haiti with food, clean water, education, and health care.
Three videos titled ‘Drunk karen break kids $200 rod,’ show several parts of the encounter between Webster and the teens and garnered millions of views.
“Why pick on kids who are just fishing?” one person commented.
“That man is out of control,” another person said.
A fishing tackle business based in Alabama even commented under one video and offered to replace the boys’ broken fishing pole.
A police spokesperson told the Daily Mail that an active investigation is ongoing.
