10 August 2023 , 11:37
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The captain of the boat whose crew member was attacked kicking off the massive brawl on an Alabama waterfront has claimed it was racially motivated.
The fight was largely split along racial lines and began when a moored pontoon boat blocked the historic Harriott II riverboat from docking in its designated space along the city’s riverfront.
Before the fight began, the riverboat captain - Captain Jim Kittrell - tried to contact the pontoon boat owner by loudspeaker. People on the other boat responded with “obscene gestures, curse words and taunting,” Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said. Damien Pickett, a crew member, took another vessel to shore to attempt to move the pontoon boat and “was attacked by several members of the private boat.”
The captain of the Harriott II has revealed what happened (Supplied)The fight quickly escalated into a massive brawl with numerous videos of it ending up on social media.
“This whole thing is just because these guys were being a**holes,” Capt Kittrell told The Daily Beast. “I was nice as a peach when I was talking to them at first: ‘Please, help me out here, fellas. Move the boat up a little bit.’”
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One of the people aboard the other boat took a swing at a crew member of the Hariott II (tiktok)“The white guys that attacked my deckhand—and he was a senior deckhand first mate—I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” he added. “All he did was move their boat up three feet. It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet. In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated.”
More and more people got involved in the brawlThree arrest warrants have gone out for Mr Pickett's attackers - Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25. During the fight a man was seen swinging a folding chair around, using it as a weapon. He has been identified as Reggie Gray, 42, and police want him for further questioning.
Despite what Cpt Kittrell saw as a racist attack starting the fight, the rest of it wasn't "Black and white", he said.
“It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate,” he said. “They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared. When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.”
Brawlers sit arrested on the pontoonA 16-year-old crew member, dubbed Aquaman, was seen jumping off the boat into the water to swim over and join in the brawl.
The captain added: "It got me really mad, sitting up there in the wheelhouse knowing there was nothing I could do. I didn’t see it coming; on the boat, I’m three floors up. The whole time, I’m yelling on the PA, ‘Stop! Somebody help!’ It was all I could do.”
“The investigation is ongoing and more charges are likely,” Chief Albert said.
Richard Roberts was one of the brawlers who turned himself in (Montgomery Police Dept.)The police chief said so far the charges are against people from the pontoon boat who assaulted the co-captain and a 16-year-old who got involved. Police are trying to locate and question the man with the chair.
He said while some made racial taunts, the police department does not believe the motivation behind the fight rises to the standard of a hate crime. Alcohol is believed to be an escalating factor, he said.