Richard Roberts, 48, is from Orange Beach, Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. Zachery Chase Shipman, 25, Allen Todd, 23, and Mary Todd, 21, are from Salem, Lee County, Alabama.
Shipman is the owner of Vasser’s Mini Mart in Selma. On March 7, 1965, hundreds of people gathered in Selma to march to Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote.
At around 7:00 p.m. on August 5, 2023, Harriott II captain Jim Kittrell, 62, of Montgomery was trying to dock the riverboat at Riverfront Park in Montgomery when he came across a group of drunk individuals who had docked their pontoon boat in the ferry’s reserved spot. The group, which included Roberts, Shipman, Allen and Mary, refused to move their boat.
For about 15 minutes, the Harriott II and its 227 passengers sat idle near the dock. Roberts, Shipman, Allen, Mary and their companions walked away from their boat so Kittrell ordered his co-captain Damien Pickett, 56, of Montgomery to move the vessel himself.
An independent male worker, 16, transported Pickett to the dock via a smaller vessel so that the latter could move the pontoon. While Pickett was trying to move the unmanned pontoon boat out of the way, he was attacked by Roberts, Shipman, Allen and Mary.
The teenage worker was also attacked. Some of the riverboat crew members and other bystanders helped Pickett and it led to an all-out brawl captured by numerous eyewitness’s cameras.
Aaren Rudolph, 16, leaped off the three-story riverboat and swam to help Pickett. The teenager has since been dubbed Black Aquaman and Aquamayne.
When the brawl ended that night, police detained 13 people but released them after questioning. Reggie Gray, 42, of Clanton, Chilton County, Alabama, who threw a folding chair during the riot, has yet to be charged but he is wanted for further questioning.
“Yes, I was there but I was the first to try to get away…,” Shipman wrote on Facebook shortly after the brawl. “I do not condone what happened. I tried to stop it and realized that I could not, so I tried to get away.”
“There is a video of me being the first to run away because what was happening was wrong and I did not want to be a part of it,” Shipman continued. “I realize I have a business to run and represent and no charges were filed against me because I was not involved.”
Roberts is now in custody and he has been charged with two counts of third-degree assault. Shipman, Allen and Mary, who were each charged with one count of third-degree assault, are expected to turn themselves in soon in Selma.
CONAN Daily 