Police have issued multiple arrest warrants after a brawl broke out Saturday on a dock in Montgomery, Alabama.
Video of the violent altercation gained nationwide attention after footage from multiple points of view — some from the riverboat trying to park and some from above the dock — spread across social media.
The footage shows a Black dock worker appearing to motion for people to move their pontoon boat, which was blocking the docking space used to park a city-operated riverboat. A White man then attacks the worker and is soon joined by multiple others who punch and shove the worker to the ground, as some other people appear to try pulling the attackers off. Within a couple of minutes, the dock and surrounding areas fill with people, either joining in on the racially divided brawl or watching it unfold from above.
As of Monday, there are four active warrants, but more could be issued after authorities review footage of the incident from bystanders and from the city's surveillance systems, according to Major Saba Coleman of the Montgomery Police Department. There haven't been any arrests made yet, but a police briefing will be held Tuesday to share an update.
“We want to make sure that the community is aware that we are fully engaged, and we are doing all of our due diligence to find out exactly what took place,” Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said Monday.
In a post on X Sunday, Reed said police "acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job."
"As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community," he continued. "Those who choose violence will be held accountable by our criminal justice system."
Alex Arger
