After a video of a boat brawl went viral, Alabama police revealed that three men and one woman face assault charges.
At a news conference, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl J. Albert announced that Richard Roberts, 48, had been charged with two charges of third-degree assault. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, are both charged with third-degree assault. Mary Todd, 21, surrendered on Thursday.
Reggie Gray, 42, is also being investigated after he was witnessed punching a woman in the head with a folding chair.
During the fight, Roberts hit a 16-year-old and surrendered to authorities on Tuesday.
Following the fight, thirteen people were arrested and questioned last weekend. “I don’t think we’re near finished. We have a lot more work to do on this.”Albert added.
Police are investigating after a fight broke out at a waterfront park in Montgomery, Alabama, over the weekend.
The confrontation allegedly began when a dock worker tried to move a boat so that a city-owned riverboat could dock.
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In their inquiry, police are using “hundreds” of social media recordings taken during the incident. The brawl started following an argument about a small boat that had been obstructing a large docking area for more than an hour.
Damien Pickett, co-captain of the Harriott II riverboat, challenged a group of men about their boat blocking his way as he attempted to land in the docking place. Pickett began arguing with the men before one of them attacked him, igniting a fight that spread across the pier.
Pickett, who was taken to the hospital for his injuries, was performing his job, according to Albert.
Captain Jim Kittrell of the Harriott II stated that he suspected the attack on Pickett, who is black, was motivated by race. “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 later explained that the following fight was “shipmates trying to help a shipmate.”
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