Montgomery Riverfront Park brawl: 2 defendants jailed on assault charges
The two remaining defendants charged with assault in connection with the Riverfront Park brawl over the weekend turned themselves in to Montgomery police on Wednesday, a department spokeswoman told AL.com.
Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery “Chase” Shipman, 25, are being held in the Montgomery Municipal Jail on one count of third-degree assault charges in connection with the Saturday brawl.
The fight involved white occupants of a pontoon boat and Black riverboat passengers who came to the aid of a Black dock worker attacked by the pontoon boat occupants in an incident captured on viral videos, said Maj. Saba Coleman.
Darron Hendley, the attorney listed for both Todd and Shipman in court records, could not immediately be reached for comment.
A third suspect, 48-year-old Richard Roberts, turned himself in on Tuesday. He is charged with three counts of third-degree assault.
Police have also sought Reggie Gray, a 42-year-old Black man described by Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert as the Black man “wielding” a folding chair and hitting a woman over the head for questioning in connection with the incident.
Gray has not been interviewed as of Wednesday night, Coleman said.
It was not immediately clear if Gray or an attorney representing him have scheduled a sitdown with police.
Albert said there were several events taking place on the riverfront Saturday evening.
The Harriott II provides two hours cruises along the river. At the time of Saturday night’s incident, there were 227 passengers on board.
A 67-year-old man on Monday who called in to “The Think Tank” with Chris Coleman on V 99.5 in Birmingham said he was onboard the riverboat as part of a class reunion from Robert C. Hatch High School in Uniontown.
The man, who did not give his name, said the incident he witnessed “made me proud of Black people … that [white] privilege thing is over with.”
As the riverboat was preparing to dock, they noticed the private pontoon boat blocking the area, Albert said.
The captain used a public address system to try to find the pontoon’s occupants and was met with obscene gestures and curse words, Albert said.
Christa Owen of Clanton was aboard the riverboat with her husband and their daughter for a dinner cruise to celebrate the daughter’s 12th birthday, according to The Associated Press.
Owen said the riverboat captain said on loudspeaker: “Black pontoon boat, move your boat,” and that passengers also yelled for the boat to move so they could dock.
“They shrugged their shoulders,” Owen said.
Co-captain Damien Pickett was taken by a smaller boat – driven by a 16-year-old white male – to the dock to try to address the situation.
Owen said the tension was obvious and mounting before punches were thrown.
That’s when a confrontation ensued between Pickett and some of the pontoon boat occupants as seen on multiple videos posted on social media. Both Pickett and the 16-year-old boy were struck during incident, and are the victims in the assault cases.
Owen, a stay-at-home mom, filmed the confrontation as it began on the dock. She said as a “mother of many” she knows the importance of being able to document how a conflict started. Once the boat was able to dock, she said her family had to figure out how to get off the boat safely with the fighting going on around them.
“It didn’t have to escalate to that,” she said.
Gov. Kay Ivey sounded off on the brawl Wednesday.
“It was just absolutely unnecessary and uncalled for,” she said, according to The Associated Press.
Pickett was treated at a hospital for injuries. No one else has reported being injured.
“The co-captain was doing his job,’’ Albert said.
Police said the 16-year-old boy was struck by Roberts. The boy’s mother sought and obtained the warrants against Roberts.
Albert said the Harriott II captain first called Montgomery police at 7 p.m., calmly reporting a disturbance.
Police then received additional calls about 7:15 p.m. and the first police units – four officers – arrived on the scene at 7:18 p.m., with three more officers arriving soon after.
Albert said the 13 people detained for questioning that night were all released pending further investigation. All were advised on how to obtain warrants through municipal court.
The chief said MPD consulted with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI during the investigation.
Albert said investigators consulted with the FBI and state prosecutors but said there was not enough evidence to pursue the matter as a hate crime.
The incident also did not meet the criteria for a charge of inciting a riot, he said.
Albert said the investigation is ongoing and more charges could be filed.
“There was no stone unturned, not only that night but since that night,’’ the chief said.
“This is not indicative of who we are as a city,’’ Albert said. “The city of Montgomery is much better than that.”
“There was no need for this event to take the path it did,’’ he said.
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed agreed, describing the situations as being caused by “reckless individuals who did not use good judgement and caused an event that was certainly avoidable.”