A Massive Brawl At Alabama’s Riverfront Park Dock Resulted In Several Arrests And Internet Jokes

A dockside disagreement turned into a violent brawl over the weekend in Alabama and now, footage from the fight has gone viral, according to Newsweek, Page Six, and the above local news video — which can be viewed on YouTube — from NBC affiliate WSFA.

On Saturday evening at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park, a fight ensued, leading to several arrests by local police. Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed shared a statement on Twitter saying officers, “acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job.”

What happened beforehand? Via Newsweek, footage taken from someone on the riverboat showed a woman explaining what led to the altercation. According to her, the man in the white shirt got off the riverboat to push the pontoon further down the dock after its owner was told he couldn’t leave his vessel there.

The riverboat worker then reportedly exchanged words with several shirtless white men surrounding the pontoon with things eventually escalating. While the Black dock worker tried to convince the people in the pontoon to move their boat, a man in grey shorts reportedly attacked him, encouraging the rest of his group to gang up on the man who was just trying to do his job.

Via WSFA, a handful of police officers arrived after the brawl began but seemed to let it die out on its own before issuing any arrests. At one point, a fold-up chair was reportedly used to beat one of the passengers on the pontoon while another was thrown into the water by a riverboat worker. Warrants have been issued for several people involved with more arrests likely to follow, but as serious as this whole situation was, Twitter was able to find some humor in the more bizarre bits.

(Via WSFA, Newsweek & Page Six)