Another violent attacker has been arrested in connection to the Montgomery, Alabama, riverfront fight.
On Thursday, Mary Todd was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault for her role in the quarrel. Todd was on board a boat with a group of occupants on Saturday who refused to move their vessel from the spot where the Harriot II Riverboat docks. Captain Jim Kittrell of the city-owned sightseeing ship made several requests over a PA system for the private pontoon to move. Instead, its occupants yelled slurs at Kittrell. Eventually, his deckhand, Damien Pickett, got off the Harriot II and pushed the pontoon forward a few feet. White occupants then approached him and began attacking Pickett before several Black bystanders and Harriot staffers came to his rescue.
Todd’s arrest follows that of Allen Todd, Zachary Shipman, and Richard Roberts, all of whom face the same charges. However, Roberts has been hit with two counts, WSFA 12 reports. At least one witness described hearing racist insults toward Pickett before the chaos took place.
“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 told The Daily Beast. He’s known Pickett for over a decade and said when other Black crewmembers came to his rescue, that was “just shipmates trying to help a shipmate.”
It doesn’t appear that Pickett or his many helpers are facing charges for their role in the brawl, though Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert has said more charges are expected and wants to question at least one person seen in the footage.
