08 August 2023 , 02:37
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A large brawl at Riverfront Park in Alabama was 'fueled by alcohol and adrenaline' according to people on the scene - as eye-witnesses chime in to say that the situation 'spiralled' in front of their eyes.
Multiple videos from different angles were uploaded on social media showing the fight erupting before eventually being broken up by police at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, Alabama. It began when rowdy boaters allegedly decided to attack the dock worker who was forced to untie their boat to make room for another vessel trying to dock.
“They just didn’t think the rules applied to them. It was so avoidable. This never had to have happened,” said a witness, Leslie Mawhorter, 52, who was aboard the Harriott II, said in an interview.
Brutal new footage shows 'chair warrior' pummeling man for beating up security guard (Twitter)With plenty of witnesses pointing their camera phones, the videos are clear - an argument ensues between the dock worker, who is black, and a group of rowdy boaters on the Alabama River. Suddenly, one of the men runs up and punches the worker.
Most of the individuals involved in the fight have asked not to be publicly named, including the dock worker who was initially attacked. As the group of white boaters attacked the dock worker, others decided to join in the brawl. The video shows one man swimming across the water to join in the melee while others ran across the dock, throwing punches.
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A massive brawl broke out in Alabama today after a dock worker got into a heated argument with some rowdy boaters“Everything just spiraled from there,” Mawhorter told NBC. “I knew something was going to go down, because their attitude was just, ‘You can’t tell us what to do.’ They were going to be confrontational regardless of who you were.” Afterwards, Montgomery police interviewed the bystanders so that they could figure out what happened.
“They were listening to us and to other people telling them who was involved and who needed to be cuffed,” she said. By the end, police had multiple people in handcuffs and arrest warrants for three others.
Individuals ran and swam across water to join in the fight, with some tossing chairs and others throwing punchesMayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement Sunday: “The Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants are being signed and justice will be served.”
Another eye-witness, Christa Owen, 47, told media outlets that was on the Harriott II with her husband and their daughter when the fight started. They were trying to dock but were unable to and watched the worker argue with the group who refused to move their boat.
So many groups joined in the brawl, with some defending the dock worker and others just there to cause havok“What was hard is we were all on the boat and witnessing our poor crewman being attacked by these guys, and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Owen said. “It was really difficult to watch, and, like I said, we felt helpless, because we were forced to be spectators.” Owen said she decided to record the incident to make sure the “right people” were arrested.
“It was inexcusable behavior,” Owen said, adding that she believes alcohol was a factor. “I can’t imagine anyone just disregarding moving their boat 2 feet so that a three-story dinner cruise boat could park back in that spot.”