The captain of the Alabama river cruise whose black staff were involved in a viral brawl with white pleasure boaters has claimed the attack was racially motivated, as a mugshot shows one of one of the white men charged with assault.
Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, were charged after they attacked the deckhand of the Harriot II after he moved their boat, which was on the designated spot for the river cruise at the Montgomery Riverfront.
Captain Jim Kittrell said the white group must have attacked the black deckhand because of his race in an interview with The Daily Beast.
‘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 said.
‘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.
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Jim Kittrell, the captain of the Harriot II, has claimed the attack on Montgomery’s Riverfront Park was racially motivated
Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, have been charged with assault after they attacked the deckhand of the Harriot II. Robert’s mugshot seen above
‘In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated,’ he explained, before adding that the rest of the fight ‘was not black and white.’
Now-infamous footage of the fight shows the brawl began after Damien Pickett, the deckhand, exchanged words with the white boaters before one of them pushed and punched him.
The captain added that his crew would have stood up for Picket, who is reportedly over 40 and a diabetic with hypertension, against anyone.
‘They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared,’ he said.
Kittrell – and police – say it all started when a private boat owner and his family took the designated docking space for the Harriot, a tourist vessel that takes passengers up and down the Alabama river.
Chief of police Darryl Albert aid on Tuesday that 13 people were detained at the scene.
Police have also asked to speak with Reggie Gray, the black man who was seen throwing a folding chair. He has not been charged.
The Harriot’s captain waited over 40 minutes as he tried to contact the private boat owners via his PA system, chief Albert said.
The private boat passengers reportedly only responded with obscene gestures and cuss words.
The chief said violence erupted when a passenger of the private boat attacked the riverboat’s lead deckhand.
Police said the fight started with an argument over a pontoon boat that was blocking the dock where a riverboat was trying to moor
Police have also asked to speak with Reggie Gray, the black man who was seen throwing a folding chair. He has not been charged
He added his department conferred with the FBI and declined filing hate crime charges.
The investigation is ongoing and more charges are likely.
Captain Kittrell previously said he and his crew had previous issues with the pleasure craft boaters before violence erupted on Saturday at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park.
‘One point I do want to make, this was not a black and white thing,’ he said.
‘I had every single white crew member male on the boat was on the dock.
‘This was our crew upset about these idiots. This is the same group that comes every year. They’re from Selma. And we’ve had trouble with them in the past, but just like jokey things.
‘A couple of years ago, this same group was here. We came back from a cruise and our golf cart was missing … we finally found it in the Hampton Inn lobby. We looked at the Hampton Inn video. Found out who did it and we had them come down. We were going to press charges then, but the police talked us out of it.’