Boat fight in Alabama: Captain Riverfront Park says group of white men who started mass fights every year visited and once stole staff GOLF CART

An Alabama captain has spoken out about what took place prior to a now-infamous brawl between white pleasure craft and black riverboat crew — saying several crew members are pressing charges.

Jim Kittrell, the captain of the Harriot II, claimed he and his crew had previous problems with the recreational craft before violence broke out in Montgomery’s Riverfront Park on Saturday.

Speaking on Alabama’s 93.1 radio station, he explained that he tried to dock the ship but was unable to because the pontoon boat had already taken the spot.

And it wasn’t the first time the crew had run into the boaters, who Kittrell says even stole one of their golf carts.

“One point I want to make, this wasn’t black and white,” he said.

Footage captured the moment a black man hit a white boater with a chair during a brawl in Alabama between black cruise staff and white recreational boat owners

“I had every male white crew member on the boat on the wharf.

“This was our crew angry about these idiots. This is the same group that comes every year. They are from Selma. And we’ve had issues with it in the past, but just like jokes.

“The same group was here a few years ago. We came back from a cruise and our golf cart was missing. …we finally found it in the lobby of the Hampton Inn. We watched the Hampton Inn video. We found out who did it and we had them come down. We were supposed to report it then, but the police talked us out of it.’

Kittrell said he asked the pontoon boat’s passengers to move the boat through his PA system about five times before the fight erupted. When that failed, the captain warned the group that he would call the police who would see the alcohol on the boat.

“They started shooting birds at us, so I called the police,” Kittrell told the local radio station.

The boaters then reportedly left the scene, leaving their ship to block the way.

Kittrell then requested help from another captain to use their smaller boat to transport his senior deckhand to move the boat. Then it got violent, he said.

“(In the water sports world it’s common that if you have to move someone’s boat, you don’t have to get upset about it,” he said.

(But) After they moved it, those guys came running back. They must have been in the park or the gazebo or something.’

The crew were in their own boat reportedly 40 or 30 meters from the dock when the group returned.

He claimed, ‘We can’t do anything. About that time another boy comes running. And within a minute or so it was an all-out brawl.

“And then I saw some more guys coming, and I said, ‘Oh. Thank God. They’re going to break it up.’ But instead of tearing it apart, they also jumped on him. So at one point it was six, seven men on my deckhand trying to move the boat.”

As soon as the riverboat reached the dock, Kittrell’s crew jumped in to help their colleague, the captain said.

“As soon as the boat reached the wharf, some of my crew, who saw my first mate Damian being attacked, felt they had to retaliate. Which was a shame. I wish we could have prevented that, but when you see something like that, it was hard. It was hard for me sitting there in the wheelhouse watching him get attacked,” Kittrell continued.

The brawl has caught the country’s attention as more and more details emerge about what led to the violence.

One of the men involved in the brawl has been identified by the public and local media as Chase Shipman, owner of the Vasser’s Mini Mart in Selma.

Shipman received backlash after posting video of the brawl online claiming he was trying to get away, as reported by the Selma Times-Journal.

He wrote, “I am sure most of you have seen the news about the riverboat incident. Yes, I was there, but I was the first to try to get away.

“You can see in the video I attached, and I don’t condone what happened. I tried to stop it and realized I couldn’t, so I tried to get away. There’s a video where I walk out first because what happened was wrong and I didn’t want to be a part of it.

“I realize that I have to run and represent a company and that no charges have been brought against me because I was not involved.”

But commentators said the footage showed Shipman was more involved than he admitted, and his business page started flooding with bad reviews.

Police Chief Darryl Albert said Tuesday the incident occurred after a private boat owner and his family seized the designated dock for the Harriot, a tourist craft that carries passengers up and down the Alabama River.

Albert said 13 people were detained at the scene. Three suspects – all white males – have been charged with assault: Richard Roberts, 48, Alan Todd, 23, and Zachary “Chase” Shipman, 35.

They have been ordered to turn themselves in and only one is in custody. The other two will turn themselves in on Tuesday.

Police have also asked to speak to Reggie Gray, the black man who was seen throwing the folding chair. He has not been charged.