MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: During the Alabama riverfront altercation on August 5, a Black deckhand caught in the middle claims the boaters threatened him after he asked them to move their boat so a dinner cruise could dock.
In a written deposition to Montgomery police that NBC News obtained, Damien Pickett described the tense moments.
The senior deckhand of the Harriott II claimed that when he asked the people in the pontoon boat to move, they refused and instead launched an assault which was recorded on camera.
Damien Pickett was allegedly 'pummeled' by the boaters
Pickett claims he was pummeled by the boaters who threatened him by saying, “I’m gonna kill you, motherf*****, beat your ass, motherf*****. I can’t tell you how long it lasted,” he wrote in the deposition. “I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life,” he added.
A pontoon boat was blocking the Harriott II's attempt to dock in Montgomery on Saturday evening with 227 passengers on board.
Damien Pickett claims men on the pontoon gave him 'the finger'
Pickett claims he requested men on the pontoon to move for about three minutes over the PA system. The men allegedly responded by "giving us the finger."
In order for the Harriott II to dock, Pickett claimed that he and another dockhand first untied the pontoon boat and moved it "three steps to the right" before retying it to a post.
Pickett said, “By that time, two people ran up behind me,” He added that one of the men, in a red hat, yelled to him, “Don’t touch that boat motherf***** or we will beat your ass.”
“I told them, ‘No, you won’t,’” he continued, adding that the men kept threatening him, so he told them, “Do what you’ve got to do, I’m just doing my job,” the Independent reports.
The boat's owner, who was dressed in a grey shirt and red shorts with a sun visor, appeared to be intoxicated, according to Pickett. He said the boat's owner, "started getting loud … He got into my face. ‘This belongs to the f****** public.’ I told him this was a city dock.”
Following the altercation, Pickett claimed that "a tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face. I took my hat off and threw it in the air. Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn’t anymore, pushing him back at the same time."
Damien Pickett was rescued by a security guard
As Pickett described the attack, he said, “Then the guy in the red shorts came up and tackled me … I went to the ground. I think I hit one of them.”
Pickett recalled how a tall Black man and a security guard came to his aid, signaling the arrival of help at last. He said, “Two people were pulling them off me, one of my co-workers had jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting.”
Finally, the Harriott II landed, and Pickett reported that his nephew "ran off the boat and went after them. I was screaming for him to come back.”
He added, “The security guard was trying to get the lady in red to leave; she wouldn’t listen. People from off the boat and spectators were coming down the back end of the dock. The guy who started it all was choking my sister. I hit him, grabbed her and moved her … I turned around and MPD had a Taser in my face. I told him I was the one being attacked and could I finish doing my job.”
Just that was done by Pickett as he escorted tourists off the cruise ship and apologized to them for the "inconvenience. They all said I did nothing wrong.” He wrote, “Some of them were giving me cards with their names and numbers on them. Some said they had it all on film, so I pointed them out to MPD.”
He was ultimately taken to the hospital to receive treatment for minor wounds. For their alleged involvement in the altercation, five people have been detained. Reggie Gray, 42, surrendered to Montgomery Police, three days after the chief of police had urged him to do so so that he could be questioned further.
According to the police, he was charged with disorderly conduct. Mary Todd, age 21, was accused of third-degree assault. The police added that she is currently detained in the Municipal Jail. She joins the three other men who were taken into custody after the violent riverfront brawl. Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, were charged with third-degree misdemeanor assault in the attack on Pickett at a dock in Riverfront Park, Washington Post reports.
