The Alabama riverboat dock worker who was involved in a brawl that went viral on social media has now been charged with assault, according to Montgomery Municipal Court records.
Dameion Pickett is charged with third-degree assault and is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 21. It is unclear if Pickett, who was formally charged Oct. 27, has retained an attorney.
Pickett was initially identified by the Montgomery Police Department as a victim in an altercation that led to a massive brawl on Aug. 5 at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, Alabama. The brawl initiated over a dispute about a pontoon boat that was blocking a space designated for a riverboat.
The large fight captured on viral videos showed Pickett, who is Black, attacked by a group of white people as other Black people rushed to his defense.
According to AL.com, the complainant is Zachery Shipman, one of the individuals who was initially charged in the incident.
Pickett was in the courtroom late last month, when pontoon boat occupant Richard Roberts, 48, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges and apologized to Pickett for his actions that day.
“I think under different circumstances we could be friends,” Roberts told Pickett. “You might not think so.”
“I know you were doing your job,” Roberts added.
Roberts received a four-month suspended sentence. Of that, he will serve 32 days in jail in Perry County, with that time to be served on weekends. The sentence also calls for 100 hours of community service and court costs.
A third pontoon boat occupant, Mary Todd, pleaded guilty to harassment late last month. She received a 15-day suspended sentence and was ordered to complete an anger management program and pay court costs.
Another defendant in the incident, Reggie Ray, who is Black and was seen wielding a folding chair in the melee, was charged with disorderly conduct.