Two of the five suspects involved in the viral Montgomery Riverfront brawl in August have accepted the judicial ramifications of their actions.
On Friday (Oct. 27), Mary Todd, 21, pleaded guilty to harassment as part of a plea arrangement. She was ordered to complete anger management courses and pay for court costs associated with her case.
Richard Roberts, 48, pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to serve 32 days in jail. He will complete his time over the span of four months of weekend lock-up. He is also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and is on the hook for court costs, reports WFSA-TV.
The three remaining suspects are expected to learn their fates at a Nov. 16 court appearance. Reggie Ray, 42, is charged with disorderly conduct; Allen Todd, 24, is charged with third-degree assault; and Zachary Shipman, 26, is also charged with third-degree assault.
As widely reported by REVOLT, a large melee broke out on Aug. 5 in Alabama when Damien Pickett, the Black co-captain of the Harriott II riverboat, requested the white occupants of a pontoon move their vessel from the dock so that his boat could park and offboard its passengers. Pickett was met with pushback and allegedly berated with racial slurs as two of the men from the pontoon began to attack him.
In his written statement to police, Pickett said he heard his attackers yell, “Don’t touch that boat, motherf**ker, or we will beat your a**,” and, “I’m gonna kill you, motherf**ker. Beat your a**, motherf**ker.” “I can’t tell you how long it lasted. I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life,” he wrote about the chaotic scene.
Passengers on the riverboat recorded the fight, which quickly grew into a large brawl as bystanders and some of Pickett’s crew members came to his defense. Among those was a man named Reggie Ray. The 42-year-old was dubbed a hero by Pickett’s supporters when he allegedly wielded a folding chair and used it to thwart attacks from aggressors who were on the dock. A week after the brawl, he turned himself in to authorities and was charged with disorderly conduct.