Alabama riverboat captain, Dameion Pickett, charged with assault two months after dock brawl

The Alabama riverboat captain who was attacked by unruly boaters is now facing an assault rap stemming from a complaint lodged by another man charged in the melee, according to reports.

Dameion Pickett was charged with third-degree assault on Oct. 26 more than two months after the WWE-style brawl on a dock, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

Montgomery officials stressed they didn’t bring the charge against Pickett and only considered him a victim in the case.

The complainant is Zachery Shipman, who is among numerous people charged in the case.

“The City of Montgomery and Montgomery Police Department have been made aware that one of the individuals involved in the incident at Montgomery Riverfront Park on August 5, 2023, has filed charges against (Harriott) II co-captain Dameion Pickett,” they said in a statement, according to the newspaper.

“Neither the City nor the Montgomery Police Department filed these charges. The Montgomery Police Department’s investigation only lists Mr. Pickett as a victim.”

A person can lodge a misdemeanor complaint and have a magistrate issue a summons that the accused person must answer in Alabama, a police spokesperson explained to NBC News.

Pickett is reportedly due in court on Nov. 21.

The altercation initially involved a group of white boaters that went after Pickett, who is black, and another white dock worker before it morphed into a large-scale throw down, according to footage from the scene.  

The fight was sparked when the boaters refused to move their pontoon boat so that the Harriott II Riverboat could dock, police previously said.

Pickett had told investigators that he didn’t believe race played a role in the incident.

Shipman, the man who accused Pickett of assault, has argued he “had nothing to do with” the fight and was preventing one of his buddies from getting involved, Pickett’s sister Nicole said, according to NBC News.

The assault charge comes from the allegation that Pickett punched Shipman, his family said.

The sibling believes even if Shipman, who was earlier this year charged with assault, was trying to keep the peace, it’s tough to expect Dameion Pickett to be aware of his surroundings in the moment.

“At that time, you got a bunch of angry a– guys beating up on you in the head, you don’t know who hit you,” Nicole Pickett reportedly said. “You just swing (in self-defense).”

Two participants in the boat-dock rumble pleaded guilty to misdemeanors last month.

Richard Roberts, 48, was ordered to serve 32 days in jail and Mary Todd, 21, was mandated to enroll in anger-management courses.