The fight erupted after some boaters refused to move their vessel to allow the historic three-story leisure boat Harriott II from mooring up in Montgomery, Alabama
The captain of the boat whose crew member was attacked kicking off the massive brawl on an Alabama waterfront has claimed it was racially motivated.
The fight was largely split along racial lines and began when a moored pontoon boat blocked the historic Harriott II riverboat from docking in its designated space along the city’s riverfront.
Before the fight began, the riverboat captain – Captain Jim Kittrell – tried to contact the pontoon boat owner by loudspeaker. People on the other boat responded with “obscene gestures, curse words and taunting,” Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said. Damien Pickett, a crew member, took another vessel to shore to attempt to move the pontoon boat and “was attacked by several members of the private boat.”
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