Alabama riverfront brawl: Mayor ‘shocked’ someone attacked for ‘doing their job’

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed (D) responded Wednesday to footage of the brawl that escalated on his city’s dock over the weekend by saying he was “shocked” to see someone attacked for just “doing their job.”

“I was surprised, certainly shocked, even, to see someone doing their job get attacked just by asking a person to move their vehicle. In this case, it was a boat,” Reed said in an interview on “CNN This Morning.”

“That’s something that I think shows a lack of respect for the individual, and I just didn’t appreciate someone who is working to secure the safety of others who were on that boat being approached like that. And I think that’s the issue,” Reed added.

A chaotic brawl captured on video Saturday resulted in three arrests warrants for white pontoon boaters who allegedly attacked a Black captain, Damien Pickett, of a riverboat cruise over a docking dispute in Montgomery’s riverfront, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said Tuesday.

Three pontoon boaters charged in Alabama riverfront brawl

The dispute reportedly started after a pontoon boat was parked in the riverboat’s designated space. After Pickett tried contacting the operators of the pontoon boat over the PA system for 40-45 minutes, he allegedly was met with “obscene gestures, curse words and taunting,” Albert said.

The brawl has become a national news story as video footage and memes of the brawl have continued to circulate on social media. Conversation surrounding the incident has focused on race, as the brawl seemed clearly divided on racial lines.

Reed praised the work of the police department in handling the case.

“I think our police department’s done a great job in putting aside any emotion or what could have been, and really looking at the facts,” Reed said. “And I think that’s what led to the arrest yesterday, and then two others who were supposed to turn themselves.”

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