Four arrest warrants were issued by police in Montgomery, Alabama for suspects involved in a fight that broke out at Riverfront Park after a Black dockworker was attacked.
A police spokesperson said that there are currently four arrest warrants in place and that “there is a chance more could be issued after reviewing additional video.” The police did not reveal the names of the suspects.
Around 7 pm on Saturday, police responded to a disturbance in the 200 block of Coosa Street. Police said officers found a large number of people involved in a physical fight and detained several at the scene.
Bystanders captured the brawl on their cellphones and posted it on social media.
According to the videos, the fight seemed to start when a black dock worker was attacked by a white man. The altercation escalated into a fight, and several other white people joined in. Onlookers captured other videos that showed additional people joining the brawl to try and defend the dock worker.
A witness who recorded video of the incident said that the fight started over a reported disagreement between a dockworker and the owners of a pontoon.
Christa Owen said the individuals who attacked a dock worker did so because they had been asked repeatedly to move the pontoon vessel, which was blocking the ferry’s docking.
Owen said that the dockworker, who worked on the boat Owen was in, got off the ferry to try and move the pontoon after the owners had “refused,” which prevented Owen’s group from docking their dinner cruise.
The black pontoon is parked in the same place as the ferry. They refused to move when we tried to pull in. “It seems that what these guys wanted overshadowed what two hundred people on a stuck ferry needed,” Owen added, adding the people aboard her boat had repeatedly asked those on the pontoon to move before the brawl.
She continued, “They looked at us and decided not to move [the pontoon boat], shrugged off their shoulders, and left.” The crewman jumped onto a small vessel and sailed to the dock.
Owen stated that a few hundred people were left “stranded” on the water until the pontoon was moved.
Videos of the incident became viral on Sunday night, prompting the mayor to call for justice.
“Last evening, the Montgomery Police Department took swift action to detain a number of reckless individuals who attacked a man doing his job. The warrants have been issued and justice will be done,” Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed stated in a Sunday statement.
Reed called the brawl “an unfortunate event that never should have happened.”
The mayor said that we shouldn’t become desensitized against violence in our community as our police department investigates the actions. Our criminal justice system will hold those who choose violence accountable.
