Mary Todd, 21, Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23,Richard Roberts, 48 and Zachery Shipman, 25 Montgomery boat dock brawl arrests ..
Folding Chair Man In The Montgomery Brawl, Reggie Ray, 42, has surrendered and has been charged in connection to his alleged role in the Montgomery riverboat brawl
Four Charged With Assault After Alabama Riverfront Brawl
Three men and a woman turned themselves in to the Montgomery police this week after an attack on a Black boat captain that garnered heavy backlash on social media.
By Remy Tumin
Aug. 10, 2023
Four people have turned themselves in to the police and have been charged with assault in connection with a brawl that broke out along the waterfront in Montgomery, Ala., last weekend, officials said, as the investigation into the racially charged melee continues.
The arrests came days after a group of white boaters attacked a Black riverboat cruise captain on Saturday. Warrants for three of the boaters were issued on Tuesday, and the Montgomery police had asked them during a news conference to come forward.
Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, were in custody of the Montgomery police as of Wednesday, the police said, and each was charged with one count of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. A third man, Richard Roberts, 48, turned himself in on Tuesday and was charged with two counts of third-degree assault. All three have posted bail, officials said.
On Thursday, Mary Todd, 21, turned herself in and was also charged with third degree assault, the police said. She was being held for 12 hours, according to court records.
The misdemeanor assault is penalized by a fine of up to $6,000 and up to one year in jail. The four accused, all of whom are white, are scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 1.
The Montgomery police said on Thursday that no other charges had been levied, but more could come. While the fight appeared to be largely down racial lines, the police would not pursue hate crime charges, they said. They also will not pursue charges of inciting a riot.
The weekend’s violent scene was captured on video by several bystanders and drew a large social media response, including cartoons, TikTok videos, a song and re-enactments. Many of the videos, which offer multiple angles and vantage points of the incident, are now a part of the police investigation, said Chief Darryl J. Albert of the Montgomery Police.
The altercation began at the city’s popular Riverfront Park after a pontoon boat docked in a space designated for the Harriott II, a riverboat cruise that was returning from a trip up the Alabama River. For 45 minutes, the captain of the Harriott II instructed the pontoon boat via the public announcement system to move out of the way, but to no avail. Instead, the white boaters responded with “gestures, curse words and taunting,” Chief Albert said at a news conference on Tuesday.
At that point, Damien Pickett, a co-captain of the Harriott, was given a ride on a small boat to the dock so he could talk to the pontoon owners. When Mr. Pickett, who is Black, tried to move the pontoon, the owners of the boat confronted and attacked him. Members of the Harriott’s crew and bystanders came to Mr. Pickett’s defense, and a melee broke out. One man was seen on video wielding a folding chair to use against the boaters.
Mr. Pickett and an unnamed 16-year-old male, who had taken Mr. Pickett to the dock, were injured in the brawl.
The dock’s history has become a part of the broader conversation around the fight and its racial overtones: The altercation occurred at the same dock where enslaved Africans arrived by steamboat to be sold in the center of town.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/us/montgomery-alabama-river-boat-brawl-arrests.html—–
Folding Chair Man In The Montgomery Brawl, Reggie Ray, 42, has surrendered and has been charged in connection to his alleged role in the Montgomery riverboat brawl
By WSFA 12 News Staff
Published: Aug. 11, 2023 at 4:40 PM CDT
Updated: 3 hours ago
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – A fifth suspect in the Montgomery riverfront brawl investigation has been arrested nearly a week after the incident captured national attention. On Friday, Montgomery police said Reggie Ray, 42, turned himself in. His surrender came days after law enforcement requested he come forward.
Ray is alleged to be the person seen on video hitting someone with a folding chair. He’s now being held in the Montgomery Municipal Jail on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.
Ray’s arrest follows those of Mary Todd, 21, who turned herself in Thursday; Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, who surrendered Wednesday; and Richard Roberts, 48, who turned himself in Tuesday. Ray is the only suspect so far not charged with at least one count of misdemeanor third-degree assault, though more suspects and charges are possible.
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, prior to Ray’s arrest, released a statement praising the “diligence and dedication of the Montgomery Police Department, the Harriott II Crew and the help of witnesses,” and noted that the four suspects under arrest at the time of his statement “came from out-of-town to cause chaos and sow divisiveness.”
MPD investigators conducted a “frame-by-frame analysis of the videos of the brawls and extensive interviews with witnesses and the victim [Harriott II Riverboat co-captain Dameion Pickett],” the city said in a statement Friday afternoon.
“At this time, a former person of interest in connection with the boat brawl has been cleared of all criminal charges and is cooperating with the investigation,” the city’s statement added.
While the man has not been identified by name, he is seen in video as a shirtless, White man wearing a blue hat and sunglasses around his neck. A city spokesperson said the man was actually attempting to de-escalate the situation, according to testimony given by Pickett.
The city is still asking for anyone with additional video to submit it to [email protected].
MPD said the incident started shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday on the dock along the Alabama River. Units responded to the 200 block of Coosa Street regarding a disturbance. On scene, officers encountered a large group of people engaged in a physical altercation.
One video shared with WSFA 12 News by a viewer, which runs approximately four minutes and 30 seconds, shows the moments leading up to the confrontation and the initial scuffle that quickly escalated.
A passenger on the Harriott II Riverboat was recording when a confrontation turned into a fight involving multiple people.
During a press conference Tuesday, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said the incident began when private boat owners would not move their boat from the place where the city-owned Harriot II Riverboat docks. Attempts were made by the boat’s captain for 45 minutes by the use of a PA system. However, the private boat owners instead yelled obscenities back at the Harriot and refused to move their boat, the chief said.
The co-captain later boarded a smaller boat and went to the dock in an attempt to get the boat owners to move, which ultimately escalated into the physical confrontation.
CNN, citing court documents, reported that a witness said that racist language was hurled before the brawl started. The witness reportedly gave a sworn statement to law enforcement that the slur was said as the co-captain was trying to move the pontoon boat from the Harriott II’s docking spot.
It’s unclear exactly who is alleged to have made the slurs.
Albert previously said MPD did not believe race was a factor in the fight and that they consulted with state and federal partners who felt there was not enough information to consider the incident a hate crime.
On Friday, Mayor Reed called the investigation “fluid” and said that “at this point, the FBI has not classified these attacks as a hate crime, but the investigation is ongoing.”
“As a former judge and as an elected official, I will trust this process and the integrity of our justice system. However, my perspective as a Black man in Montgomery differs from my perspective as mayor. From what we’ve seen from the history of our city — a place tied to both the pain and the progress of this nation – it seems to meet the moral definition of a crime fueled by hate, and this kind of violence cannot go unchecked. It is a threat to the durability of our democracy, and we are grateful to our law enforcement professionals, partner organizations and the greater community for helping us ensure justice will prevail.”
While all charges are currently misdemeanors, that could change, according to statements made by the police chief during Tuesday’s briefing.
“At the time, we did not have the luxury of all the videos that we have seen now, that you and I have seen, and that the world has seen. Basically all we had were witness statements and he-said, she-said so our police officers and detectives had to decipher through all that and then apply the appropriate charges at that time,” Albert explained Tuesday. “So again, as we gain more information, as we get more video, as we talk to more individuals, if charges are meant to be amended, they will be.”
https://www.wsfa.com/2023/08/11/5th-suspect-arrested-montgomery-riverfront-brawl/
Cops Nab Another Assailant in Montgomery Boat Deck BrawlCops Nab Another Assailant in Montgomery Boat Deck Brawl … Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25,
Breaking News Reporter
Updated Aug. 10, 2023 5:46PM EDT
Published Aug. 10, 2023 4:28PM EDT
A mugshot of Mary Todd
Montgomery PD
Mary Todd, 21, became the fourth assailant to be arrested in the fallout of Saturday’s viral brawl on the riverfront in Montgomery, Alabama, with cops revealing Thursday that she had been booked on a charge of third-degree assault.
Footage from the scene appears to show Todd, who is white, wearing a purple t-shirt and kicking a Black riverboat co-captain as he was being jumped by three white men, prompting a massive melee divided along racial lines that ended with 13 people being detained.
Todd joins Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, who are also facing charges of assault in the third degree. Roberts turned himself in on Tuesday, and Allen Todd and Shipman were booked Wednesday night after going on the lam for a day.
A police spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Todd turned herself in to police and was being held at the municipal jail on Thursday. Cops did not reveal what relationship she has, if any, with Allen Todd.
While Todd is shown throwing a kick in the attack that preceded the brawl, she didn’t fare as well once her group became outnumbered. Footage appeared to show her getting punched as someone pulled her hair. At another point, she turned to get away but it appeared she was then punched in the face—sending her to the ground. She then retreated to the safety of the pontoon boat.
Mary Todd’s arrest came just hours after a witness statement from riverboat co-captain Damien Pickett emerged, providing first-hand insight into Saturday’s chaos.
Pickett reportedly told cops he was “just doing my job” when he tried to move a pontoon boat slightly forward so that his passenger ferry, the Harriott II, could dock in its reserved spot. Cops say the pontoon boat’s owners had refused to move the vessel for 45 minutes—and even flicked off the ferry—despite repeated pleas for them to move just a couple of feet.
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Just before punches began flying, Pickett claimed to police that one of the now-arrested men yelled, “If you touch my boat, I’m going to beat your ass,” WSFA reported Thursday, citing his witness statement.
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Pickett told cops that Roberts, the pontoon boat’s owner, was the first man to confront him. He got in Pickett’s face so Pickett said he threw off his hat and prepared to fight, but was quickly tackled to the ground—a scene captured on dozens of videos now seen around the world.
During that struggle, as the three men wailed on him, Pickett claimed one of his assailants told him, “I’m going to kill you, motherfucker.”
Pickett recalled that he grabbed someone and “held on for dear life” as he tried to protect himself. Help arrived quickly from bystanders and colleagues—one of whom swam from the undocked Harriott II—and the tables quickly turned on the white men.
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“I was holding on when they pulled him,” Pickett recalled of help arriving to save him. “I looked up, and two people was pulling [the assailants] off, a tall gentleman and a security guard. I fell to the ground again, and the security [guard] grabbed me.”
Once up, Pickett said he yelled for a deckhand to throw him a “line” so he could dock the ferry and unload its dozens of passengers. That ended up adding more fuel to the fire, with enraged passengers yelling and arguing as Pickett’s colleagues stepped in to avenge his attack.
Pickett recalls things getting especially hairy at that moment. He told police he turned and saw his sister being choked out by Roberts—so he leaped into action again.
“I hit [Roberts], grabbed her, and turned around,” he said in the statement. “[Then] MPD had a taser in my face. I told [the officer] I was attacked and said, ‘Can I finish my job?’ Because the back of the boat wasn’t tied.”
Once the dust settled, Pickett said he finished docking the ferry and rushed its passengers off, apologizing for the inconvenience. He says he told cops he had pain in his head, so he was taken to a hospital. Doctors determined he had bruised ribs and a lump on his head, but no serious injuries.
Boat Captain: Wild Riverfront Attack WAS Racially Motivated
‘A**HOLES’
Justin Rohrlich
While police maintained they didn’t have enough evidence to file hate crime charges, witnesses claimed that race played a factor. One woman—watching the chaos from the ferry—told cops she heard the trio of white suspects yelling “f**k that n***er” just moments before they began beating Pickett.
From her perch on the ferry’s second deck, the witness reportedly told cops she saw her 16-year-old son dive into the Alabama River to swim to the dock and help Pickett. Moments later, the teen was entangled in the fight—at one point being punched in the chest so hard, his mom told cops she watched him stumble away, clearly injured.
Right after that blow, the woman reportedly told cops, she heard one of the suspects say he was “getting his gun,” but the ordeal ended with no shots fired.
The Harriott II’s captain, Jim Kittrell, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that he also believed the Pickett was attacked because he’s Black.
“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,” Harriott II skipper Jim Kittrell told The Daily Beast. “In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated.”
Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert did say, however, that he expects more arrests and charges to be doled out in the brawl’s aftermath. In a press conference Tuesday, he also called on Reggie Gray, a 42-year-old Black man accused of “wielding a folding chair” in the chaos, to come forward for further questioning.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mary-todd-21-arrested-over-montgomery-boat-deck-brawl
