Nearly two months after the riverfront brawl in Alabama, an attorney for a man involved is insisting that the attack that led to the melee was driven by racism.
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Reggie Ray, a Black man facing disorderly conduct charges after pummeling a man with a folding chair, says the assault on the lead deckhand Dameion Pickett on Aug. 5, which prompted his coworkers and bystanders to join the fight, was racial.
Merritt told “Good Morning America” that his client, Ray, was “involuntarily roped into the disorderly conduct initiated by a violent white mob.”
During the “GMA” interview on Monday, Sept. 25, Pickett told co-anchor Robin Roberts that he had asked a group of white boaters who were illegally parked in a spot at the dock designated for the Harriott II dinner and entertainment cruise to move over so the bigger vessel could park. But instead of cooperating, the group of boaters, who he said had beers in hand, grew irate.
Watch video of the brawl here.
Video of the incident shows a white man punching Pickett in the face before the other boaters start to attack Pickett as he tries to fight back.
“This man just put his hand on me. I was, like … it’s my job, but I’m still defending myself at the same time. So when he touched me, I was, like, ‘It’s on,’ ” Pickett said.
His coworker, 16-year-old Aaren Hamilton-Rudolph, told “GMA” he couldn’t stand by and watch Pickett being beaten, so he jumped into the water and swam to the deck.
Pickett’s coworker Roshein “RahRah” Carlton, also rushed to help his friend. He told “GMA” that he heard the group use “racial slurs.” Pickett said they used some “nasty words.”
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The mother of another coworker who was attacked by the mob told police in a sworn statement, “You could hear men yelling ‘f–k that n—er.’”
However, the four people from the private boat arrested for the brawl are all facing misdemeanors. None of them have been hit with hate crime offenses.
Montgomery Police Chief Albert Pickett said police “looked at every avenue” and left “no stone unturned” but “were unable to present any insight in a riot or racially biased charges at this time,” according to AL.com.
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