Montgomery riverboat co-captain says he was hanging on ‘for dear life’ in brawl

Damien Pickett, who is Black, describes being attacked by white boaters after attempting to move their pontoon boat

An Alabama boat co-captain was hanging on for dear life" as men punched and tackled him on the riverfront of the state's capital city, he told police after video of the brawl circulated widely online.

Damein Pickett, a crew member of the Harriott II in Montgomery, described the brawl in a handwritten statement to authorities included in court documents, saying he was attacked after moving a pontoon boat a few feet so the city-owned riverboat could dock.