Damien Pickett, the sailor attacked in last month’s riverboat brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, is speaking out for the first time since the incident happened.
Pickett, who is black, spoke with Good morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts in an ABC News interview published Monday about his account of the incident when an argument spilled overboard after he confronted a group of white men about moving their pontoon boat to dock with the riverboat Harriott II.
“I didn’t expect this to happen today at work. I was expecting another calm, nice team,” Pickett recalled. “I was in shock, just in shock.”
On how the fight broke out, he explained: “There were just a lot of people who blocked us on the way to dock and the boats just wouldn’t move. We could have docked, but we would have ended up hitting a few ships and we would have been responsible for that.”
“All [on the riverboat] shouted, ‘Can you move the boat?’ On the captain’s order, we got off and moved the ship. Four steps to the right, that’s it,” he continued. “Words were exchanged and I said, ‘I’m just doing my job. . . . Once we agree, we don’t mind you staying there, but not at this point while we’re trying to agree.’ ”
Riverboat Harriott.
Julie Bennett/Getty
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Pickett said the men then used “some nasty expletives” in response. He also claimed that “alcohol [was] involved” while the men had “beers in their hands while [were] on the dock.”
At that point, Pickett told Roberts, 62, he was just thinking about “the people on board, their safety, getting everybody in and out and getting them home.”
“I’m also thinking about his ship because if I break his ship, it will sink,” he added.
The videos show Pickett arguing with a man who asked him where the no-go sign was even though Pickett said he had “been there before [and] he knows the rules and regulations.”
Then a shirtless white man rushed to punch Pickett, causing a commotion that spread throughout the dock.
“This man just put his hand on me. I said, like… it’s my job, but I’m still defending myself at the same time. So when he touched me, I said, like, ‘It’s on,'” he said Pickett.
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However, Roshein “RahRah” Carlton and Aaren Hamilton-Rudolph immediately jumped into action in defense of their colleague.
“I go up to the guys and ask them, ‘Well, why are you all jumping on him like that? and he, thinking of me, [goes,] ‘Who do you think you are?’ Carlton recalled, adding that the whites used “a lot of racial slurs.”
Hamilton-Rudolph, 16, meanwhile jumped into the river and swam to the dock to protect Pickett. “When they first started attacking him and nobody helped, I couldn’t just watch and sit and let them beat him while everyone else was just filming,” he explained.
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Viral Alabama Riverboat Brawl suspects Zachary Shipman, Allen Todd, Mary Todd and Richard Roberts (left to right).
Montgomery Police Department
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As for his physical condition after the fight, Pickett told Roberts, “I’m just a little sore, little bumps and bruises here and there. But I’m here by the grace of God.”
Even in the middle of the fight, “I was still trying to get that boat in while the fight was going on. I’m still telling the captain, ‘We have to get these people to this dock safely,’ he said.
“I went to work to work, not to fight or get jumped. It’s the cause and effect of every situation,” Pickett added.
A day after Richard Roberts, 48, turned himself in to police and was charged with two counts of third-degree assault in August, the Montgomery Police Department (MPD) said three other people — Mary Todd, 21, Allen Todd, 23, Zachary Shipman, 25 — also surrendered. They were each charged with one count of third-degree assault, but have pleaded not guilty.
MPD later arrested Reggie Ray, a black man who could be seen on video hitting someone with a folding chair, for disorderly conduct. He pleaded not guilty, according to ABC News.
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Source: HIS Education