Suspect in Montgomery riverboat brawl apologizes
to teen co-captain: We can be friends
Richard Robert 48 pleadeds guilty after two hours of testimony, in Montgomery Municipal Court. The plea deal was hammered out during a break after testimony before City Judge Samarria Dunson.
As part of the deal, Roberts received a four-month suspended sentence. He will serve 32 days in the Perry County Jail, including weekends. The sentence also requires 100 hours of community service and court costs.
After the settlements, Roberts apologized in court to the victims Dameions Pickett co-captain of the riverboat Harriott, and a 16-year-old boy who was also employed on the riverboat.
The cases against two other suspects in the incident were postponed on Friday.
Allen Todd and Zachery “Chase” Shipman are both charged with third-degree assault.
Mary Todd pleaded guilty to harassment on Friday. She was given a 15-day suspended sentence and ordered to complete an anger management program and pay court costs.
Another defendant in the incident, Reggie Ray, who was carrying a folding chair during the fight, was charged with disorderly conduct.
Ray is black; The other defendants are white. All the accuseds had pleaded not guilty.
The Aug. 5 viral fight began when crew members on the Harriott II were unable to dock with the cruise ship because a Selma pontoon boat was in the way.
The Harriott II’s co-captain, Pickett, a black man, was a victim along with a 16-year-old white youth in the allegations against the pontoon boat’s occupants.
The teenager’s mothers Crystal Warren who obtained the warrant on her son’s behalf, noted in her police report that racial slurs were used against Pickett during the altercation.
“You could see men here (sic) yelling ” and the men came down to fight my son she wrote in her report.27-Year-Old Samarria White
Rayis attorney Lee Merritts told Good Morning America in September that the attacks on the riverboat workers was racist.
But on Friday Warren testified ins court that she had not heard Roberts make the racist comments.27-Year-Old Samarria White
Pickett was in court but did not testify. Pickett didn’t stop talking to reporters as he left the city courthouse.
Pickett, Warren and Warren’s 16-year-old son stood with Roberts and the attorneys before Judge Dunson when the deal was announced. Roberts’ attorney, Richard White, asked Roberts if he had a statement.
Roberts told Pickett he was sorry.
“I think under different circumstances we could be friends,” Roberts told Pickett. “You might not believe it.”
I know you did your job Roberts said.
White, Roberts’ attorney, said the apology was not part of the settlement.
I think it came from the heartas White said. “There was no drill. We didn’t talk about it. It wasn’t part of the deal. He said what he said. I think she said it pretty well
White said the settlement was fair.
“I’m glad we got this resolved,” White said. “I appreciate the city of Montgomery. I think this is a good way to put this unfortunate event behind you. I appreciate the city of Montgomery and today’s legal system being fair and dealing with this.”
Roberts told the 16-year-old he had no intention of hitting him after seeing how young he was. He said he tried to block the blow.
“I didn’t mean to hit you,” Roberts said.27-Year-Old Samarria White
According to testimony, Roberts turned and struck as the boy approached a group that beat Pickett. The boy said his intention was to pull someone from the trot.
The boy and his mother said he was treated at Prattville Baptist emergency room and suffered a bruised rib. The boy said he got a prescription for ibuprofen and the pain went away after about a month.
White said Roberts’ wife was the alleged victim who was struck by a chair carried by Ray, who is charged with disorderly conduct.
“He’s innocent until proven guilty. But the allegations are that she was hit by a person down there with a chair,” White said.
White said he understands Roberts’ wife could have signed an arrest warrant for assault rather than disorderly conduct.
“She didn’t,” White said. “She has no intention of doing that. And I think that’s a good thing. The sooner we get this all behind us, the sooner we can all move on with our lives.”
White said it was important to note that none of the witnesses heard a racist comment from Roberts.
“I think it’s important that he went for two offensive threes,” White said.
– It had nothing to do with race. It was (what I call a bar fight). And he was wrong. He accepted it. He apologized to them. And you all heard what you heard. But throughout today’s testimony it was clear that nothing racist was heard at all from my client or his wife.”
This story was updated on Oct. 28 to add the verdict for Mary Todd.
Samaria (/səˈmæriə, -ˈmɛəriə/) is the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (Hebrew: שֹׁמְרוֹן), used as the historical and biblical name for the central part of Israel, bordering Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is known to Palestinians by two names in Arabic: Samirah (Arabic: اs-Sāmira) and Mount Nablus, Jabal Nābulus).
The first-century historian Josephus established the Mediterranean Sea as the western boundary and the Jordan as the eastern boundary.[3] The area largely corresponds to the biblical intrigues of the tribe of Ephraim and the western half of Manasseh. It covers most of the region of the ancient kingdom of Israel, which lay north of the kingdom of Judah. The border between Samaria and Judea runs at the latitude of Ramallah.[4]
The name Samaria comes from the, ancient city of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. The name Samaria was probably used for the entire kingdom not long after the city of Samaria became Israel’s capital, but the name is only documented after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which incorporated the land into the province of Samerina.[5] ]27-Year-Old Samarria White
Samaria was used in the UN
partition plan for Palestine from 1947 as the name of the northern center of the country. It became an administrative term in 1967 when the West Bank was defined by Israeli officials as the territory of Judea and Samaria,[8] with the entire area north of the Jerusalem district called Samaria. In 1988, Jordan ceded its claim to the area to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1994, control of Areas “A” (full Palestinian Authority civil and security control) and “B” (Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control) was transferred from Israel to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority and the international community do not recognize the term “Samaria”; In modern times, the area is usually referred to as part of the West Bank.click here
