Now Montgomery Riverboat Skipper Says Attack on His Co-Captain Was Racially Motivated

The captain of the riverboat at the center of the Montgomery brawl reversed course Tuesday, saying the attack on his co-captain was racially motivated.

Jim Kittrell, the skipper of the Harriott II riverboat, had previously said the brawl was “not a Black and white thing” — a position he still maintains. But in an interview with the Daily Beast, he clarified that he thinks the initial attack on his Black co-captain Damien Pickett by a group of white men was because of race.

“The white guys that attacked my deckhand—and he was a senior deckhand first mate—I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” Kittrell said. Pickett was described by police as "co-captain" of the riverboat.

Kittrell added: “All he did was move their boat up three feet. 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.”

After the initial attack on Pickett, Black members of Harriott II’s crew and bystanders intervened and started hitting back at the white men who attacked Pickett. Video from the scene showed the fighting was largely along racial lines, but Kittrell insists that part of the incident “was not black and white.”

“It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate,” he said. “They 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. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.”

Three white men — Richard Roberts, 48; Allen Todd, 23; and Zachary Shipman, 25 — were charged with misdemeanor assault in the aftermath of the brawl.

Roberts turned himself in to Selma police, but Montogomery police told The Messenger Wednesday that Todd and Shipman are not yet in custody.

Police said Tuesday that they are also hoping to talk to Reggie Gray, the Black man seen wielding a folding chair, asking him publicly to come in for questioning. Pickett, who was taken to the hospital following the brawl, has yet to speak out in the aftermath of the incident.

Kittrell described him as “not someone who wants to be out there throwing fists.” 

“He shouldn’t be. It got me really mad, sitting up there in the wheelhouse knowing there was nothing I could do," the skipper said.