Alabama boat brawl witness claims white attackers had yelled ‘f–k that n—er!’
A witness to the massive brawl at the Montgomery Riverfront in Alabama reportedly told police she heard white men yelling “f–k that n—er!” moments they attacked the black co-captain of a riverboat.
The white woman, whose 16-year-old son was injured in the melee after he transported co-captain Damien Pickett to the dock in a small boat, alleged in a sworn statement obtained by CNN that she heard the slurs.
“You could hear men yelling, ‘f–k that n—er!’” the woman said, according to CNN, which added that the white men hurled the hateful words as Pickett tried to move their pontoon boat to make way for the Harriett II.
The skipper of the large vessel also alleged that racism was involved in the WWE-style attack Saturday on his crewman.
Three suspects have been charged in the wild incident.
“All he did was move their boat up three feet,” Capt. Jim Kittrell told The Daily Beast said of Pickett.
“It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet. In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated.”
Kittrell insisted, however, that his crew’s actions were not driven by race — telling The Daily Beast that the assailants “could’ve been little green men” for all they cared.
“When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out,” Kittrell said. “It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.”
Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert has said that his force looked into the possibility of race-hate charges with the help of the FBI.
However, they concluded the fight was not racially motivated – citing what Pickett told investigators.
“We believe what he is saying and what he is saying is that he does not believe it was racially motivated whatsoever,” Albert told CNN.
“If more evidence comes forward. If there’s more proof that this leaned toward more of a hate crime, we will amend those charges and charge appropriately then,” the chief added.
The witness who claimed she heard the racial slur alleged in her sworn statement that one of the suspects, 48-year-old Richard Roberts, punched her son in the chest as he tried to “pull people off” Pickett.
She also claimed that another man said he “was getting his gun,” at which point he was tackled by a worker from the riverboat.
Thirteen people were detained and interviewed for several hours before being released, the chief said.
“I don’t think we’re near finished. We have a lot more work to do on this,” Albert said.
“We have hundreds of videos and witness statements at this time and, I would say at this point it is highly likely that more arrests and more individuals will face charges,” he told CNN.
So far, Roberts, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, have been arrested on charges of third-degree assault.
The mugshots of all three were released Wednesday.
Kittrell, the captain, said his crew’s actions were not racially motivated — telling The Daily Beast that the assailants “could’ve been little green men” for all his crew cared.
“When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out,” Kittrell said. “It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.”
