Riverfront brawl's chair-wielding hero surrenders to police
One of Black Twitter’s celebrated heroes who was involved in the viral dock brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, last weekend has turned himself in to local police. Reggie Ray, whose last name was initially believed to be Gray, surrendered to authorities on Friday (Aug. 11).
The 42-year-old was sought by the MPD after footage of the Riverfront Park melee showed a person believed to be him striking white agitators with a folded chair. He was held in the city’s municipal jail before being released later that evening. He faces a disorderly conduct charge, according to WFSA-TV.
For days, online spectators heralded Ray for helping to fight off a group of white men who were attacking a Black dock employee. Memes and jokes about the chair turned into hilarious banter about a chair-wielding man not being present once police announced that Ray had been identified as their fifth suspect.
The now-infamous scene unfolded on the evening of Aug. 5 when the aforementioned group of white men refused to undock their pontoon to make way for the Harriott II riverboat, which was carrying passengers. A fight broke out when one of the men lunged at and struck the dock employee, later identified as Damien Pickett. Four other suspects — Allen Todd, Zachary Shipman, Richard Roberts, and Mary Todd — were arrested and/or surrendered earlier this week.
In a written statement to the police, Pickett recalled the owner of the pontoon yelling, “Don’t touch that boat, motherf**ker, or we will beat your a**.” Threats continued to fly as he was ganged up on and pushed to the ground by three men. “I’m gonna kill you, motherf**ker. Beat your a**, motherf**ker,” yelled an aggressor. “I can’t tell you how long it lasted. I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life,” wrote Pickett.
Within seconds, more aggressors joined in and continued to jump Pickett. Hoards of Black men came to Pickett’s defense as the scuffle grew out of control. “Two people were pulling them off me … One of my co-workers had jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting,” continued the statement. Pickett sustained bruised ribs and knots on his head, where he was repeatedly struck during the attack.
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