Rickey Smiley, pastor, exult after black co-captain is defended from attack by white boaters in Montgomery

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Wednesday, August 09, 2023

A scene from the Riverfront Park attack in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday August 5, 2023. | Screenshot/YouTube/NBC News

Christian comedian and talk show host Ricky Smiley publicly exulted with many black Americans online after a black cruise ship co-captain was successfully defended by colleagues and bystanders after he was violently attacked by a group of white boaters at the Riverfront Park in Montgomery, Alabama, on Saturday.

The attack, which was captured in multiple videos and posted online, has since gone viral sparking a variety of memes and spoof videos.

At a press conference Tuesday, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert explained that around 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Harriott II cruise ship which takes passengers on two-hour tours along the Alabama River was trying to dock in its designated docking space along the river with 227 passengers.

A private boat in that designated space prevented the Harriott II from docking.

“The captain of the Harriet remained away from the dock for nearly 40 to 45 minutes. As he attempted to contact the operators of the private boat via PA system. They were only responded to with obscene gestures, curse words and taunting,” Albert said.

Damian Pickett, the co-captain of the Harriott II, was subsequently picked up from the cruise ship, in a separate vessel and taken to the pier where he attempted to persuade the private boat owners to remove their vessel from the ship's designated space.

The private boat party responded by attacking Pickett.

“Several members of the Harriott II came to Mr. Pickett's defense engaging in what we all have seen since on social media,” Albert said.

Among Pickett’s colleagues who came to his defense during the attack is 16-year-old Aaren Rudolph, who is show diving off the boat and swimming to the dock and had enough strength left over to fight off several of the co-captain’s attackers. The teenager is now being hailed as a hero with many offering financial support, some of which he has declined.

“Thank you everyone for supporting me and sending me notes and messages telling me I’ve done well,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram Monday. “I was just helping my crew mate and I really don’t deserve this but thank you again anyway and I am grateful I wish everyone the best.”

Smiley in his statement on the attack on the cruise ship’s co-captain also praised the teenager, calling him “Pookie Michael Phelps” referencing decorated U.S. swimmer, Michael Phelps.

The brawl at the Riverfront Park came in two rounds. One round showed efforts to protect the co-captain as the cruise ship waited to dock while a second round of videos showed Pickett’s colleagues and others responding to the white boaters after the ship was able to dock. Many compared what happened to the Captain America "Avengers Assemble" scene in “Avengers: Endgame.”

Other videos showed one black man using a folding chair to hit the white boaters while other men and women jumped into the brawl.

Homie went WWE on them wit that chair ????#montgomery #alabama #brawl pic.twitter.com/J6T1WFzQTn
— Peleoneros (@Peleoneros_) August 9, 2023

“I don't advocate violence. I don't. I do not advocate violence at all whatsoever, but today is the first time in my life I've seen a fight break out and I got the Holy Ghost and then shouted, spoke in tongues curse, cussed, swung in the air like that dude on 'Boyz n the Hood.' All the emotions wrapped up in one up there,” Smiley said in an emotional video reaction to the brawl in which he incorrectly identified the co-captain as a security guard. “I saw Moses part the Red Sea. I saw the trumpet blowing, the angels in the sky.”

Bishop Talbert Swan, a Church of God in Christ leader and the president of the Greater Springfield NAACP, said in a statement on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, that the attack on the black co-captain showed how racism continued to impact America while the reaction of the black Montgomery bystanders who helped him showed that “we are fed up.”

“The fact that violent, racist, white Alabamians brutally beat a black city worker 68 years after Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks led the Montgomery Bus Boycott is a clear example of how the history and structure of systemic racism continues to impact this nation,” Swan wrote. “The fact that black people bravely resisted racial terrorism on the very docks where their ancestors were sold at auction is a clear indication that we are fed up.”

Many individuals reacting to the brawl were elated by the outcome because the dock was previously used in the slave trade.

Albert said once police arrived on the scene, they detained 13 individuals who were later released after being advised how to secure warrants against their attackers. He also noted that a 16-year-old white male who transported Pickett to the dock in the smaller vessel was also assaulted by members of the private boat.

Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Richard Roberts, a 48-year-old white male, Allen Todd, a 23-year-old white male, and Zachary Shipman, a 25-year-old white male, Albert said.

Reggie Gray, who is shown in videos “wielding that folding chair” is also being urged to contact the police.

Albert said he expects more warrants to be issued as the investigation into the brawl continues.

“This investigation is ongoing, and more charges are likely,” Albert said. “We encourage the public to continue to send us additional videos or evidence relating to this case.”