harriott ii riverboat captain

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Men charged in Montgomery brawl had been ‘trouble’ for riverboat, captain says

The three White men charged with assault Tuesday after they attacked a Black riverboat co-captain in Montgomery, Ala. , and ignited a brawl largely along racial lines had previously caused problems for the Harriott II, the vessel’s captain said, and were repeatedly asked to move their pontoon boat so the riverboat could dock.

Harriott II captain Jim Kittrell told media outlets he believed the attack on co-captain Damien Pickett over the weekend was “racially motivated.”

Richard Roberts, 48; Allen Todd, 23; and Zachery Shipman, 25, were charged with third-degree misdemeanor assault in the attack on Pickett at a dock in Riverfront Park, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl J. Albert said at a news conference.

All three turned themselves in, Montgomery Police Maj. Saba Coleman told The Washington Post. She added that Roberts also has a warrant pending for striking a 16-year-old White boy, and that Reggie Gray, a 42-year-old Black man who was seen on video hitting people with a folding chair during the brawl, has not turned himself in after police called on him to do so.

White men charged with assaulting Black man in Montgomery Riverfront brawl

Authorities said that they had consulted with the FBI and would not be able to charge the White men with a hate crime or with inciting a riot. But Kittrell, who told WACV in Montgomery that riverboat staff previously “had trouble” with the boaters from Selma, Ala., emphasized that he believed the assault on Pickett, 43, was due to racism.

“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,” Kittrell, who is White, told the Daily Beast on Tuesday. “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.”

He added to radio show “ News & Views with Joey Clark ” that the brawl after the initial assault of Pickett “was not a Black-and-White thing.”

Neither Pickett nor Kittrell, 62, immediately responded to requests for comment Wednesday morning.

Albert announced the charges against Roberts, Todd and Shipman three days after videos went viral of the brawl, which was decried by Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed (D) as “an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred.”

“This is not indicative of who we are,” said Reed, Montgomery’s first Black mayor. On Wednesday, Reed criticized Todd and Shipman after they “did not honor their agreement to surrender to authorities,” and said that police “will do what it takes to bring them to justice.”

What we know about the Montgomery Riverfront brawl

Videos taken by onlookers and spread around the internet showed the Black co-captain, Pickett, arguing with one of the pontoon boaters on Saturday as a second White man charges at Pickett and hits him in the face. Pickett then tosses his cap into the air before the two hit each other. Almost immediately, Pickett is swarmed by several White men on the dock who throw punches while the Black man was on the ground, according to the videos posted online.

White and Black people on the dock and shore appear to jump in to try to help Pickett, and someone appears to jump off the riverboat and swim to the dock to help the co-captain. As the initial tussle calmed down, videos appeared to show a group of Black men confronting the White boaters. That fighting lasted more than a minute, with one of the Black men — allegedly Gray — being recorded hitting a White woman in the head with a folding chair and then being surrounded by police. One person seemed to get punched off the dock into the water.

Police detained 13 people for questioning, then released them, Albert said. The police chief said that “no stone was unturned” in deciding ultimately to not charge Roberts, Todd and Shipman with more serious charges.

“We examined this over a period of time, not only that night but since that night,” he told reporters. “At this time, based on the way the statutes read the laws are crafted, we were unable to present any inciting a riot or racially-biased charges.”

Kittrell has captained the Harriott II for about 13 years, steering the riverboat since it was originally known as Savannah River Queen of Savannah, Ga., according to the Selma Times-Journal . He told the Daily Beast he’s known Pickett for about 10 years during their time together on the Harriott II, a 19th-century riverboat offering dinner, dancing and live entertainment as part of Montgomery’s popular Riverfront Park.

The riverboat captain said this week that the three White men were part of a group of pontoon boaters from Selma that he’s had issues with in recent years.

“We’ve had trouble with them in the past, but just like jokey things,” he said Monday to the Montgomery radio station.

He pointed to an instance a couple of years ago when one of the riverboat’s golf carts was missing after returning from a cruise. Kittrell said the group had taken it and left it in an odd place: the lobby of a Hampton Inn.

“We looked at the Hampton Inn video, found out who did it, and we had them come down,” the riverboat captain told the radio station. “We were going to press charges then, but the police talked us out of it.”

But what unfolded Saturday was different, he said. When Kittrell noticed the pontoon boat was partially blocking the area where the riverboat docks, he asked the pontoon boat’s passengers over the PA system to move the boat “about five times,” he recalled. After he threatened to call the police on the boaters, “they started shooting birds at us,” which led him to call law enforcement, Kittrell told the radio station.

“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,’” he told the Daily Beast.

Not long after Pickett attempted to push the pontoon boat forward a few feet, Kittrell saw his colleague get attacked by the men from Selma.

“We’re 40 yards or 30 yards away from the dock watching all of this. There’s nothing we can do,” he said to the radio station. “About that time, another guy comes running up. And within a minute or so, it was an all-out brawl. And then I saw some more guys coming, and I said, ‘Oh. Thank God. They’re going to break it up.’ But instead of breaking it up, they jumped on him too. So, at one time, it was like six, seven guys on my deckhand that was trying to move the boat.”

While Kittrell maintained that the attack on Pickett was racially motivated, he emphasized that the rest of the brawl, which appeared to be along racial lines, was not the same as the initial encounter. He said he was thankful for the Harriott II staff for standing up and coming to Pickett’s aid during the attack.

“It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate. They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared,” he told the Daily Beast. “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.”

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Co-Captain in Alabama Boat Brawl Describes Threats, Chaotic Attack

The worker who was attacked in the Montgomery, Alabama, boat melee on Saturday said in a written statement to police that the occupants of the pontoon boat involved in the fight were advised "five or six times" to move their vessel before the worker intervened, according to media outlets who obtained the statement.

Damien Pickett, co-captain of the riverboat Harriott II, was attacked by several individuals after attempting to move their private pontoon boat that was blocking the river cruise ship from docking in its designated space near Montgomery Riverfront Park. The incident was caught on camera by several witnesses and has gained national attention after being shared on social media.

On Thursday, 21-year-old Mary Todd, who was involved in the brawl, turned herself in to police and was charged with third-degree assault, according to the Montgomery Police Department (MPD). Todd is the fourth person to be arrested and charged in connection to the fight, following Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, who turned themselves in on Wednesday . Police also have 48-year-old Richard Roberts in custody.

According to Pickett's witness deposition, which was handwritten and filed with the MPD hours after the fight, boat workers called on the Harriott II's intercom "at least five or six times" for the pontoon boat to relocate before Pickett got off the riverboat to move the smaller vessel.

Pickett also recalled that the men on the pontoon responded to the orders by "giving us the finger" for several minutes, according to a report from NBC News, which obtained Pickett's statement.

The co-captain eventually untied the pontoon boat with help from a 16-year-old dockhand and moved it "three steps to the right" so that the Harriott II could dock.

"By that time, two people ran up behind me," Pickett wrote to police.

Pickett wrote that one of the men involved in the fight yelled to him, "Don't touch that boat motherf***** or we will beat you're a**."

"I told them, 'No, you won't,'" read the statement. He also reportedly told the men as they kept threatening him, "Do what you've got to do, I'm just doing my job."

Pickett wrote that he then remembered being tackled to the ground after trying to reason with the pontoon occupants.

"By that time, a tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face," Pickett said. "I took my hat off and threw it in the air. Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn't anymore, pushing him back at the same time."

"Then the guy in the red shorts came up and tackled me ... I went to the ground," he continued. "I think I hit one of them."

The victim also recalled that the attackers repeated threats as they surrounded him, such as "I'm gonna kill you" or "beat you're a**, motherf*****," read NBC News' report.

In the middle of the brawl, Pickett managed to dock the Harriott II. He also said that a tall Black man and a security guard helped pull people off of him. A co-worker of his had also "jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting," Pickett wrote.

"The security guard was trying to get the lady in red to leave; she wouldn't listen," the statement continued. "People from off the boat and spectators were coming down the back end of the dock. The guy who started it all was choking my sister. I hit him, grabbed her and moved her ... I turned around and MPD had a taser in my face. I told him I was the one being attacked and could I finish doing my job."

Pickett said he took time to help passengers off of the Harriott II and apologized to them "for the inconvenience," although they told him he had done "nothing wrong."

"Some of them were giving me cards with their names and numbers on it. Some said they had it all on film, so I pointed them out to MPD," he added.

Major Saba Coleman, public information officer for the MPD, told Newsweek via email Thursday that there were "no additional updates regarding this active ongoing investigation."

• Alabama boat fight inspires man's tattoo
• Video of Alabama "river boat brawler" speaking out floods social media
• Alabama boat fight video from different angle sheds new light on mass brawl

Videos of the incident that were shared to social media show Pickett, a Black man, being ganged up on by several white individuals. MPD previously told Newsweek that officers "located a large group of subjects engaged in a physical altercation" once they responded to the brawl at about 7 p.m. Saturday.

Lauryn Lauren, who captured the melee on video and posted it to her Facebook account, previously said during an interview with Hot 105.8 radio station that she and other witnesses went down to the dock in an attempt to deescalate the chaos but left "cause they didn't want to go to jail."

"I felt like it was just the privilege and audacity," Lauren said. "These people are still sitting here after they have assaulted this man. If that ain't privilege or whatever you think, you better be held accountable."

The captain of the Harriott II, Jim Kittrell, also said on Alabama's 93.1 radio station earlier this week that it was not the first time boat workers had encountered the pontoon occupants who attacked Pickett.

Update 08/10/23, 11:24 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional comment from the Montgomery Police Department.

About the writer

Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national news and politics, where she has covered events such as the 2022 Midterm Election, live campaign rallies and candidate debates for Newsweek. She also covers court and crime stories. Kaitlin joined Newsweek in May 2022 as a Fellow before starting full time in September 2022. She graduated from the University of Dayton and previously worked as a breaking news intern at the Cincinnati Enquirer. You can get in touch with Kaitlin by emailing [email protected] . Languages: English.

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Black Alabama boat captain, in middle of wild brawl caught in viral video, now accused of assault

The Black boat captain who was attacked by white boaters in a wild dockside brawl captured  in viral video  was accused of assault in connection with the Alabama melee, officials said Thursday.

Dameion Pickett, whom police have identified as co-captain of the Harriott II riverboat, was summoned to appear before a magistrate on Nov. 21 on allegations of assault in the third degree, a Montgomery court clerk said.

Video showed Pickett appearing to argue with boaters after asking them to make way for his craft on Aug. 5.

A shirtless white man is then seen forcefully shoving Pickett in the chest before taking a swing at the captain's face, touching off the wild melee. Several other shirtless white men surrounded Pickett and joined the fracas.

Pickett’s family said they've been told that the charge stems from allegations that the captain punched another man, Zachary Shipman.

Shipman has claimed he “had nothing to do with” the brawl and was trying to stop one of his friends from fighting, according to the captain’s sister, Nicole Pickett.

In Alabama, a person can make a misdemeanor complaint and have a magistrate issue a summons for an accused person to answer, a police spokesman said.

"Neither the City nor the Montgomery Police Department filed these charges," said the joint statement from the mayor and the police chief. "The Montgomery Police Department’s investigation only lists Mr. Pickett as a victim."

Shipman, though, is being charged with assault in the third degree , according to a court clerk.

Shipman could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

But even if Shipman were an innocent bystander or a peacekeeper, Pickett’s family insists, it would be unreasonable to think their loved one should have paused under the circumstances to consider who was around him before defending himself.

“At that time, you got a bunch of angry a-- guys beating up on you in the head, you don't know who hit you,” sister Nicole Pickett said. “You just swing (in self-defense).”

Senior Breaking News Reporter

Watch CBS News

Two men plead guilty in Alabama riverfront brawl; charge against co-captain is dismissed

December 8, 2023 / 6:28 PM EST / AP

Two men pleaded guilty on Friday to harassment charges in connection with an Alabama riverfront brawl  that drew national attention.

The two men, Zachary Shipman and Allen Todd, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges as part of a plea deal, CBS affiliate WAKA reported . The August riverfront melee in Montgomery drew national attention after bystanders filmed white boaters hitting a Black riverboat co-captain, which then made crew members and bystanders rush to his defense. Video of the fight was shared widely online, sparking countless memes and parodies.

A judge on Thursday also dismissed an assault charge filed by one of the White boaters against the riverboat co-captain. The Montgomery Police Department said the co-captain was a victim in the assaults.

Montgomery police said the brawl began when the white boaters refused to move their pontoon boat so the city-owned Harriott II riverboat could dock in its designated space. The boat's co-captain said he was attacked after moving the pontoon boat a few feet to make way for the riverboat.

The guilty pleas concluded the last of the criminal cases brought against four white boaters in connection with the melee. The two men were ordered to complete an anger management class and perform community service. They will not serve any jail time unless they violate probation terms.

One white boater previously pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to serve 32 days in jail. Another white boater pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment. A Black man, who was filmed swinging a folding chair during the brawl, was charged with disorderly conduct and will go to court next week.

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Montgomery riverfront brawl: Black co-captain faces assault charge

The Black co-captain of the Harriott II has been charged with third-degree assault in the riverfront brawl in Montgomery municipal court.

Dameion Pickett will go to court at 10 a.m. Nov. 21. The complainant in the case is Zachery Shipman, who is also facing an assault charge.

The brawl happened Aug. 5, and Pickett was charged Oct. 26. Officials did not publicly announce the charges as they did with others charged after the brawl.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert released the following statement Thursday afternoon:

“The City of Montgomery and Montgomery Police Department have been made aware that one of the individuals involved in the incident at Montgomery Riverfront Park on August 5, 2023, has filed charges against (Harriott) II co-captain Dameion Pickett. Neither the City nor the Montgomery Police Department filed these charges. The Montgomery Police Department’s investigation only lists Mr. Pickett as a victim.”

More: Montgomery riverfront brawl: Folding chair shows up in tourist photos, at voter drives

The incident started when Pickett asked the operators of a private boat that was docked in its space to move. Dozens of cellphone videos showing Pickett being punched and kicked by several white assailants were recorded by passengers aboard the Harriott II riverboat – which was waiting to dock with 227 people on board for more than 40 minutes – as well as people on the shore.

Richard Roberts and Mary Todd of Selma both  pleaded guilty to charges  related to the brawl in Montgomery municipal court. Cases are pending for three others including Shipman, Allen Todd and Reggie Ray, who is accused of hitting a woman with a folding chair.

This story was updated at 4:48 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, to clarify that while Pickett is charged in municipal court, the city itself did not file the charges.

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gladlyalex.

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What is the Harriott II, riverboat involved in Montgomery riverfront brawl?

• Updated: Aug. 13, 2023, 1:54 p.m.
• | Published: Aug. 11, 2023, 5:00 a.m.

The Harriott II riverboat sits docked in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. A riverfront brawl occurred on Aug. 5 when a crew member was punched for trying to move a pontoon boat that was blocking the riverboat from docking. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)

• Mary Colurso | [email protected]

The Harriott II riverboat has been in the news lately, figuring into the infamous riverfront brawl in Montgomery that happened on Saturday, Aug. 5, and quickly captured national attention via viral videos.

The videos showed a Black riverboat co-captain attacked by a group of white people as other Black people rushed to his defense. As of Friday morning, Aug. 12, four people had been charged with assault in connection to the large fight, and another was being sought for questioning in connection with the incident.

The melee was ignited, police said, when the Harriott II, which had been out on the Alabama River for a dinner cruise, was trying to dock in a spot that had been designated and reserved for the riverboat. A private pontoon boat was docked too close to the spot, and the captain used a public address system to try to find the pontoon’s occupants and get them to move it.

The Harriott’s co-captain, Damien Pickett, was taken by a smaller boat to the dock to try to address the situation. That’s when a confrontation ensued between Pickett and some of the pontoon boat occupants.

READ: Montgomery riverboat crew says they were attacked by drunk people yelling n word, records state

“The co-captain was doing his job,” Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert told CNN . “He was simply trying to move the boat in just enough to where the cruise ship could park safely in its identified location. However, it quickly escalated.”

Police responded to break up the fight, and 13 people were detained and questioned for several hours Saturday, officials said. Meanwhile, videos taken by bystanders during the brawl were posted on social media, causing a national sensation. An investigation is ongoing, police said.

READ: Montgomery Riverfront Park brawl: 2 defendants jailed on assault charges

The Harriott II, a familiar sight on the river, might have been taken for granted by folks in Montgomery in the past, but no longer. Recent comments on the Harriott’s Facebook page , both positive and negative, have mentioned the brawl, and the incident has significantly raised the riverboat’s profile.

So what is the Harriott II? What role does it serve on the city’s entertainment and tourism landscape? What services does it provide, and how much does it cost to ride? If you’re unfamiliar with the riverboat, here’s a primer.

The Harriott II riverboat sails down the Alabama River in March 2013 at Union Station Train Shed in Montgomery, Alabama. (AL.com file photo/Julie Bennett)

What is the Harriott II?

The Harriott II, a 19th-century riverboat, offers public and private cruises on the Alabama River. The riverboat is part of Montgomery’s entertainment district, and was part of a downtown revitalization effort in the city that revved up in 2008-2009.

Right now, Montgomery’s website for parks and recreation and special events touts the Harriott II as “center stage of Montgomery’s entertainment district.” The City of Montgomery website lauds the Harriott II as a prime attraction on its “vibrant riverfront,” and also points to “ballets, sports complexes, museums, civil rights memorials, city parks.”

The Harriott II arrived in Montgomery in October 2008 , after taking a 1,400-mile trip that took about 28 days from its origin in Savannah, Georgia. The Montgomery Riverfront Development Foundation paid about $500,000 for the riverboat as an entertainment and tourist attraction, according to a report by WFSA TV , an NBC affiliate in Montgomery. Reports at the time said the riverboat could hold up to 400 passengers.

The Harriott II is maintained and managed by the City of Montgomery/Riverfront Facilities, according to an online brochure with rental information.

Right now, the riverboat offers regularly scheduled cruises for the public on Fridays through Sundays through October. There’s a two-hour dinner cruise on Fridays at 6:30 p.m., a two-hour getaway cruise on Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. and a two-hour blues cruise on Sundays at 4:30 p.m. Food, drinks, and live entertainment are part of the cruises.

Tickets are $30-$55 for adults, $15-$35 for children. Packages for birthdays and anniversaries cost $49.95-$79.95, the riverboat’s website says. The agenda trims to Saturdays and Sundays in November. (See this online brochure for details.)

People board the Harriott II about a half-hour before departure, at 255 Commerce St. near Riverfront Park . Tickets can be bought online or at the box office at 213 Commerce St. At least 35 paying customers must be on board for a cruise, the brochure says. About 227 people were on the Harriott when the riverfront brawl happened on Aug. 5, according to CNN.

Charter rentals for the Harriott II range from $3,700 to $10,500, depending on the day, the cruise and the services provided. There’s also an educational cruise that lasts one hour and has a minimum of 75 passengers, with historic narration and a box lunch, that costs $22 per person.

The Harriott II has scheduled several specialty cruises this year, including a Halloween costume party cruise on Oct. 28; a murder mystery cruise on Nov. 19; holiday cruises Dec. 1-2, 8-9 and 15-16; and a New Year’s Eve cruise on Dec. 31.

Food entrees on the riverboat range from barbecue chicken to beef tips over rice to spaghetti and meatballs, according to the rental brochure, and grill area offers burgers, wings, nachos and other casual fare. Beer, wine, liquor and specialty drinks are available at the bar.

The Harriott II has a rating of 4 out of 5 on TripAdvisor , based on 82 reviews. It’s got 4.5 stars on Google, based on 300 reviews.

MORE ON THE RIVERFRONT BRAWL:

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Man accuses riverboat co-captain of assault during Alabama riverfront brawl

The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A Black riverboat co-captain at the center of an Alabama riverfront brawl that drew national attention has been accused of misdemeanor assault in the melee by one of the white boaters charged in the fight.

Court records show one of the white men accused of assaulting the co-captain during the August brawl filed a complaint last month saying the co-captain hit him first during the chaotic melee. The co-captain faces a charge of misdemeanor assault, according to court records.

"I was not trying to fight," the man wrote in a statement. The complaint was filed Oct. 26 ahead of the man's Nov. 16 trial on a misdemeanor assault charge of hitting and kicking the riverboat co-captain.

The August riverfront melee in Montgomery drew national attention after bystanders filmed white boaters hitting a Black riverboat co-captain and others rushing to his defense. Video of the fight was shared widely online, sparking countless memes and parodies.

Montgomery police said the brawl began when the white boaters refused to move their pontoon boat so the city-owned Harriott II riverboat could dock in its designated space. The boat's co-captain said he was attacked after moving the pontoon boat a few feet to make way for the riverboat.

Five other people were previously charged in the brawl. Two white boaters previously pleaded guilty to charges of misdemeanor assault or harassment. Three other people, including a Black man who was filmed swinging a folding chair, have upcoming court dates.

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Breaking news, riverboat captain attacked in massive alabama dock brawl now faces assault charge.

The Alabama riverboat captain who was attacked by unruly boaters is now facing an assault rap stemming from a complaint lodged by another man charged in the melee, according to reports.

Dameion Pickett was charged with third-degree assault on Oct. 26 more than two months after the WWE-style brawl on a dock, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

Montgomery officials stressed they didn’t bring the charge against Pickett and only considered him a victim in the case.

The complainant is Zachery Shipman, who is among numerous people charged in the case.

“The City of Montgomery and Montgomery Police Department have been made aware that one of the individuals involved in the incident at Montgomery Riverfront Park on August 5, 2023, has filed charges against (Harriott) II co-captain Dameion Pickett,” they said in a statement, according to the newspaper.

“Neither the City nor the Montgomery Police Department filed these charges. The Montgomery Police Department’s investigation only lists Mr. Pickett as a victim.”

A person can lodge a misdemeanor complaint and have a magistrate issue a summons that the accused person must answer in Alabama, a police spokesperson explained to NBC News.

Pickett is reportedly due in court on Nov. 21.

The altercation initially involved a group of white boaters that went after Pickett, who is black, and another white dock worker before it morphed into a large-scale throw down, according to footage from the scene.  

The fight was sparked when the boaters refused to move their pontoon boat so that the Harriott II Riverboat could dock, police previously said.

Pickett had told investigators that he didn’t believe race played a role in the incident.

Shipman, the man who accused Pickett of assault, has argued he “had nothing to do with” the fight and was preventing one of his buddies from getting involved, Pickett’s sister Nicole said, according to NBC News.

The assault charge comes from the allegation that Pickett punched Shipman, his family said.

The sibling believes even if Shipman, who was earlier this year charged with assault, was trying to keep the peace, it’s tough to expect Dameion Pickett to be aware of his surroundings in the moment.

“At that time, you got a bunch of angry a– guys beating up on you in the head, you don’t know who hit you,” Nicole Pickett reportedly said. “You just swing (in self-defense).”

Two participants in the boat-dock rumble pleaded guilty to misdemeanors last month.

Richard Roberts, 48, was ordered to serve 32 days in jail and Mary Todd, 21, was mandated to enroll in anger-management courses. 

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