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A waterfront brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, went viral. What happened and why?

The riverfront worker who was attacked said he “held on for dear life” as a group of white boaters jumped him in a large brawl that broke out at the Montgomery Riverfront in Alabama on Aug. 5.

In a handwritten account he filed with law enforcement after the Aug. 5 melee and obtained by NBC News, Dameion Pickett recalled what happened the day when the men refused to move their boat so a dinner cruise riverboat could dock.

“A tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face. I took my hat off and threw it in the air,” he wrote. “Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn’t anymore, pushing him back at the same time.”

Pickett has not made a public statement regarding the incident and did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.

Videos that went viral on social media showed a group of white men attacking Pickett. The footage caused an outcry, with the Montgomery mayor addressing the altercation and police issuing arrest warrants.

Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, have been charged with one misdemeanor count of assault in the third degree, a spokesperson for the Montgomery Police Department said.

Another man, Richard Roberts, 48, faces two third-degree assault charges and turned himself in on Aug. 8.

A fourth suspect in the case, Mary Todd, 21, turned herself in on Aug. 10 and was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault.

A fifth suspect, Reggie Ray, 42, turned himself in on Aug. 11 and was charged with disorderly conduct. Police had previously sought Ray after he was seen wielding a folding chair in the melee on social media videos.

So what exactly happened? Read on for a full explanation of this now-viral incident.

What happened at the Montgomery Riverfront

A large brawl broke out Saturday, Aug. 5, shortly before 7 p.m. at the Alabama capital after Pickett attempted to clear a dock along the river so that the Harriott II Riverboat could dock, witnesses told NBC News . The brawl was fueled by alcohol and adrenaline, witnesses also said.

When a group of rowdy boaters refused to move their pontoon at the Montgomery Riverfront, they attacked Pickett when he untied their boat to make way for the riverboat, witnesses said.

In video shared with NBC News , after a group of what appears to be white men ran along the dock to attack the worker, who is Black, more people joined in and appeared to defend Pickett. Other footage shared with NBC News shows people punching and shoving one another, with one person falling into the water as police struggled to contain the chaos.

The Riverfront is a popular destination with a park, stadium, amphitheater and riverboat.

What police say about the fight

Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert, in a news conference on Aug. 8 , confirmed that a group of private white boaters had attacked a Black dockworker, identified as Pickett. Later, police would identify Pickett as the assistant boat captain of the riverboat.

He had been trying to move the private boaters' pontoon to make way for the riverboat.

As passengers aboard the riverboat — more than 200 — waited at least 30 minutes, Pickett tried to get the rowdy private boaters to move. Several members of the private pontoon group then attacked Pickett, Albert said.

Albert added that police arrived on the scene at 7:18 p.m. local time — about 18 minutes after the riverboat captain had called. He said 13 people were detained, questioned and then released.

What did the attacked dockworker say about the incident?

In a handwritten statement filed with police and obtained by NBC News, Pickett said he asked the group “five or six times” to move their boat.

When he and a dockhand were ignored and given the finger, he says, they untied the group’s pontoon boat, moved it “three steps to the right” and re-tied it to a post so the Harriott II could dock.

“By that time, two people ran up behind me,” Pickett wrote, adding that a man in a red hat yelled, “Don’t touch that boat motherf---er or we will beat your ass.”

He said the men continued to threaten him and then one of them called another man over.

“They both were very drunk,” Pickett wrote, adding that then the pontoon boat owner went over “started getting loud … He got into my face. ‘This belongs to the f---ing public.’ I told him this was a city dock.”

That’s when the brawl began. Pickett wrote, “A tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face. I took my hat off and threw it in the air. Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn’t anymore, pushing him back at the same time.”

Adding, “Then the guy in the red shorts came up and tackled me … I went to the ground. I think I hit one of them.”

Sharing more recollections from the fight, he said, “I can’t tell you how long it lasted. I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life.”

Pickett was eventually helped by other people but noticed the brawl was getting out of hand, writing, “One of my co-workers had jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting.”

He added that his nephew joined the melee and he had also seen his sister being choked during the fight.

As more chaos ensued, the riverboat had not been tied to the dock but Pickett helped the passengers off the boat. He wrote that he apologized “for the inconvenience. They all said I did nothing wrong.”

“Some of them were giving me cards with their names and numbers on it. Some said they had it all on film, so I pointed them out to MPD,” he added. After the altercation, he was treated at the emergency room where he was treated for bruised ribs and bumps on his head.

What witnesses say about the brawl

Witnesses told NBC News a similar version of events. Christa Owen said she was aboard the Harriott II with her husband and daughter when the brawl broke out.

“What was hard is we were all on the boat and witnessing our poor crewman being attacked by these guys, and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Owen said.

“It was really difficult to watch, and, like I said, we felt helpless, because we were forced to be spectators,” Owen added.

Owen was among those who recorded the altercations, explaining that it was “inexcusable behavior.”

Additionally, Leslie Mawhorter also on Harriott II, added: “They just didn’t think the rules applied to them. It was so avoidable. This never had to have happened. Everything just spiraled from there.”

“I knew something was going to go down, because their attitude was just, ‘You can’t tell us what to do.’ They were going to be confrontational regardless of who you were,” Mawhorter continued.

Have police made any arrests?

Four men and one woman are facing charges , according to police: Richard Roberts, 48; Reggie Ray, 42; Allen Todd, 23; and Zachery Shipman, 25, and Mary Todd, 21.

“There was no need for this event to take the path it did,” Albert told reporters earlier this week. “The people of Montgomery, we’re better than that. We’re a fun city, and we don’t want this type of activity to shed a dark eye on what this city’s all about.”

Was the fight racially motivated?

In the press conference on Aug. 8, Albert said investigators do not believe the incident was racially motivated.

He said that the local FBI and district attorney’s offices are involved in the ongoing investigation. 

“I don’t think you can judge any community by any one incident. I think it’s important for us to address this as an isolated incident, one that was avoidable,” Albert said. “One that was brought on by individuals who chose the wrong path of action.”

What the mayor of Montgomery said about the altercation

On Sunday, Aug. 6, Mayor Steven L. Reed released a statement saying that “justice will be served” after individuals attacked “a man who was doing his job.”

“Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants have been signed and justice will be served,” the statement posted on social media read. “This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred. As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community.”

“Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system,” the statement concluded.

Reed shared how he felt about the incident during a press conference on Aug. 7.

"I feel like it’s an unfortunate incident. Our statement that we put out the other day is that it’s something that shouldn’t have happened and it’s something that we’re investigating right now," Reed said. "We’ll continue to go through that process before we take any additional steps."

When asked if Reed thought the incident was racially charged, he said the brawl is still under investigation, and that authorities are "investigating all angles."

The investigation is ongoing.

EDITOR'S NOTE (Aug. 11, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. ET): Previous police statements listed the man attacked as Damien Pickett and one of the suspects as Zachary Shipman. On Aug. 11, officials corrected their names' spellings to Dameion Pickett and Zachery Shipman. This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling.

Liz Calvario is a Los Angeles-based reporter and editor for TODAY.com who covers entertainment, pop culture and trending news.

Anna Kaplan is a news and trending reporter for TODAY.com.

Sam Kubota is a senior digital editor and journalist for TODAY Digital based in Los Angeles. She joined NBC News in 2019.

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4 people are being charged with assault for the waterfront brawl in Montgomery

Dustin Jones

A screenshot from one of the videos of the brawl in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday. The video shows a fight that broke out between an apparent dock worker and several men who appeared to be parking their pontoon boat in a space reserved for the city's riverboat. @Josh_Moon / Screenshot by NPR hide caption

Authorities in Montgomery, Ala., are charging three men with assault for attacking a riverboat co-captain on Saturday. When officers arrived on scene, the fight had spiraled out of control into a full on brawl at the city's Riverfront Park.

Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that three men involved in the incident have been identified as: Richard Roberts, 48, facing two counts of third-degree assault; Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, both of whom face one count of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor in Alabama.

On Thursday, Mary Todd, 21, turned herself in to authorities and was also charged with third-degree assault, officials said.

The chief told reporters that the department has been working with the city's district attorney and the FBI on what charges could be filed. Albert said that at this time the incident doesn't constitute charges of a hate crime or inciting a riot.

Montgomery brawl doesn't constitute hate crime charges, police chief says

"I understand the question and concern, that's why this department looked under every stone for answers," Albert told reporters.

Albert said one of the men is already in police custody in Selma, while two others planned to turn themselves in later on Tuesday.

The chief said the men had parked their pontoon boat in a space reserved for the Harriott II riverboat, and that though there were no signs posted at the time, the dock space is well-known to be for the ship.

Damien Pickett, the Black man seen in videos of the incident, is the co-captain of the Harriot II. He was sent ashore with an unidentified 16-year-old white male employee to remove the pontoon boat after some 45 minutes of trying to dock, Albert said.

The crew from the Harriott II had tried to reach the owners of the boat by using their loudspeaker, but the owners responded with vulgar language and hand gestures, according to Albert.

I've spent my career explaining race, but hit a wall with Montgomery brawl memes

When Pickett arrived on the dock, he tried to remove the boat so the Harriot II could safely dock, but was then confronted by the three white suspects, and a fight quickly ensued, Albert said.

The police said in a statement Monday that officers responded to a disturbance near Riverfront Park, and "At the scene, they located a large group of subjects engaged in a physical altercation." By the end of the night, 13 people were detained and interviewed, but ultimately released, Albert told reporters on Tuesday.

Albert said more warrants will likely be issued as officers continue reviewing footage. He also asked 42-year-old Reggie Gray, a Black man allegedly seen using a chair as a weapon in the footage, to come forward for questioning.

Pickett was the only one reported to have been treated at a hospital for injuries sustained in the brawl, Albert noted.

Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed promised residents in a statement on Saturday that "justice will be served."

"This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred. As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community," Reed said. "Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system."

Reed briefly addressed the issue during a press event Monday afternoon. He said that the safety of the community is paramount, that police are continuing to investigate the incident and that more details will be shared in a press conference on Tuesday.

"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," Reed said.

There was an all out brawl in Montgomery yesterday. This is the beginning of it. The man in the white shirt is a dock worker for the city. According to several people present, the white guys had been told to move their pontoon so the city's riverboat could park. Then this.... pic.twitter.com/BVkgXID8JX — Josh Moon 🇺🇸 (@Josh_Moon) August 6, 2023

Alabama political reporter Josh Moon shared a video of the fight on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It shows that the incident appears to have been started by a group of boaters who had docked their pontoon boat in a space reserved for the city's riverboat.

Videos show Pickett working to untie the pontoon boat when he is confronted by a group of white men who appear to be responsible for the boat.

The riverboat's operator did not respond to a request for comment.

While the attendant was pointing to the riverboat making its way to the dock, one of the men becomes visibly agitated before striking him. One man appears to try to break up the attack, but then more young white men sprinted along the dock and joined the fight, then dragging Pickett to the ground to continue their attack.

The attack quickly spiraled out of control as several onlookers joined in on the chaos.

The incident started just hours after former President Donald Trump joined his supporters at an annual Republican Party summer dinner in Montgomery, which is credited as the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.

Albert said the investigation is ongoing and that it's important to note that the brawl wasn't started by Montgomery residents.

"This is not indicative of who we are as a city. Montgomery is much better than that," the chief said. He also issued a stern warning ahead of any "possible retaliatory acts."

"Don't come here with it. We're not going to tolerate it," Albert said. "We will be active, we will be aggressive, and we will not allow this type of behavior in our city."

Correction Aug. 8, 2023

An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the name of the city's riverboat as the Harriet II. The boat is called the Harriott II. It has also been updated to clarify that police have detained several people in connection to the brawl, and say charges are pending. Previously, the story said multiple people had been arrested.

Watch CBS News

Two men plead guilty in Alabama riverfront brawl; charge against co-captain is dismissed

December 8, 2023 / 6:28 PM EST / AP

Two men pleaded guilty on Friday to harassment charges in connection with an Alabama riverfront brawl  that drew national attention.

The two men, Zachary Shipman and Allen Todd, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges as part of a plea deal, CBS affiliate WAKA reported . The August riverfront melee in Montgomery drew national attention after bystanders filmed white boaters hitting a Black riverboat co-captain, which then made crew members and bystanders rush to his defense. Video of the fight was shared widely online, sparking countless memes and parodies.

A judge on Thursday also dismissed an assault charge filed by one of the White boaters against the riverboat co-captain. The Montgomery Police Department said the co-captain was a victim in the assaults.

Montgomery police said the brawl began when the white boaters refused to move their pontoon boat so the city-owned Harriott II riverboat could dock in its designated space. The boat's co-captain said he was attacked after moving the pontoon boat a few feet to make way for the riverboat.

The guilty pleas concluded the last of the criminal cases brought against four white boaters in connection with the melee. The two men were ordered to complete an anger management class and perform community service. They will not serve any jail time unless they violate probation terms.

One white boater previously pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to serve 32 days in jail. Another white boater pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment. A Black man, who was filmed swinging a folding chair during the brawl, was charged with disorderly conduct and will go to court next week.

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Four Charged With Assault After Alabama Riverfront Brawl

Three men and a woman turned themselves in to the Montgomery police this week after an attack on a Black boat captain that garnered heavy backlash on social media.

By Remy Tumin

Four people have turned themselves in to the police and have been charged with assault in connection with a brawl that broke out along the waterfront in Montgomery, Ala., last weekend, officials said, as the investigation into the racially charged melee continues .

The arrests came days after a group of white boaters attacked a Black riverboat cruise captain on Saturday. Warrants for three of the boaters were issued on Tuesday, and the Montgomery police had asked them during a news conference to come forward.

Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, were in custody of the Montgomery police as of Wednesday, the police said, and each was charged with one count of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. A third man, Richard Roberts, 48, turned himself in on Tuesday and was charged with two counts of third-degree assault. All three have posted bail, officials said.

On Thursday, Mary Todd, 21, turned herself in and was also charged with third degree assault, the police said. She was being held for 12 hours, according to court records.

The misdemeanor assault is penalized by a fine of up to $6,000 and up to one year in jail. The four accused, all of whom are white, are scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 1.

The Montgomery police said on Thursday that no other charges had been levied, but more could come. While the fight appeared to be largely down racial lines, the police would not pursue hate crime charges, they said. They also will not pursue charges of inciting a riot.

The weekend’s violent scene was captured on video by several bystanders and drew a large social media response, including cartoons , TikTok videos , a song and re-enactments . Many of the videos, which offer multiple angles and vantage points of the incident, are now a part of the police investigation, said Chief Darryl J. Albert of the Montgomery Police.

The altercation began at the city’s popular Riverfront Park after a pontoon boat docked in a space designated for the Harriott II, a riverboat cruise that was returning from a trip up the Alabama River. For 45 minutes, the captain of the Harriott II instructed the pontoon boat via the public announcement system to move out of the way, but to no avail. Instead, the white boaters responded with “gestures, curse words and taunting,” Chief Albert said at a news conference on Tuesday.

At that point, Dameion Pickett, a co-captain of the Harriott, was given a ride on a small boat to the dock so he could talk to the pontoon owners. When Mr. Pickett, who is Black, tried to move the pontoon, the owners of the boat confronted and attacked him. Members of the Harriott’s crew and bystanders came to Mr. Pickett’s defense, and a melee broke out. One man was seen on video wielding a folding chair to use against the boaters.

Mr. Pickett and an unnamed 16-year-old male, who had taken Mr. Pickett to the dock, were injured in the brawl.

The dock’s history has become a part of the broader conversation around the fight and its racial overtones: The altercation occurred at the same dock where enslaved Africans arrived by steamboat to be sold in the center of town.

An earlier version of this article, relying on information provided by the Montgomery Police Department, misspelled the given names of two people. The boat co-captain is Dameion Pickett, not Damien; and a person charged is Zachery Shipman, not Zachary.

How we handle corrections

Remy Tumin is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics. More about Remy Tumin

Mayor vows justice after massive brawl breaks out on Alabama riverfront

Multiple video clips of a brawl on the riverfront in Montgomery, Alabama, went viral on social media Sunday night, and the mayor reacted with a vow that justice would prevail.

Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement Sunday that several people involved in the fighting Saturday evening have been detained.

"Justice will be served," he said.

NBC affiliate WSFA of Montgomery reported that four arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the altercation.

It appears to show brawling that split combatants along racial lines. The fighting appeared to follow a riverboat's attempt to dock where a pontoon boat was moored.

A man who was apparently from the riverboat walked to the pontoon and exchanged words with someone, precipitating an all-out brawl between people associated with each of the watercraft.

Reed indicated that the man from the riverboat was attacked and that those who committed violence against him would face the justice system.

"The Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job," he said.

Police told WSFA that the fight was reported at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The city's Riverfront along the Alabama River is a summertime draw that features the riverboat, an amphitheater, a stadium and a park, among other attractions.

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. 

Several people detained after fight breaks out at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park in Alabama

Update : Montgomery police say 4 active warrants out after brawl at Riverfront Park in Alabama

Several people were taken into custody Saturday night after a fight broke out at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park in Alabama, authorities said.

The Montgomery Police Department responded to a disturbance at the 200 block of Coosa Street in Montgomery, Alabama, at 7 p.m. after a large group of people were fighting. Several people were detained, police said.

A video of the incident, which appeared to be racially divided, was shared Sunday on social media. It’s been reported that it began because a pontoon boat was blocking dock space needed to park a riverboat. That area is the regular spot reserved for the Harriott II Riverboat.

Watch the video to see the massive boat deck brawl that led to several people being detained.

One short video, posted on social media by Josh Moon of the Alabama Political Reporter, shows several white people fighting a single Black man, who according to Jasmine Williams of WSFA is a dock worker.

The only audio heard is from witnesses yelling, but it appears to begin with an argument between the Black man and one of the white men. Another white man rushes and hits the Black man, who backs up and tosses his hat into the air. Then the fight begins in earnest, and several white people begin hitting the Black man.

During the video, one witness, apparently watching from the riverboat, screamed repeatedly, “Y’all help that brother!” to onlookers who were on shore. It appears some people from the shore did join in to defend him, and the video shows at least one Black man dive into the water from the riverboat.

“Get up there, young buck!” yelled another voice on the video.

By the time the swimmer climbed up onto the dock, about a minute into the video, most of the altercation appeared to be over in Moon's video.

A separate video posted by Lauryn Lauren shows scenes after that, as the Harriott II was preparing to dock. A group of people approached the pontoon boat, and more fighting broke out. At least one person fell into the water from the dock. Authorities were soon on the scene and police began taking people into custody .

Authorities have not released the names of the detained suspects. Charges against anyone involved in the fight are pending, MPD said.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel can be contacted at   [email protected]

Men charged in Montgomery brawl had been ‘trouble’ for riverboat, captain says

The three White men charged with assault Tuesday after they attacked a Black riverboat co-captain in Montgomery, Ala. , and ignited a brawl largely along racial lines had previously caused problems for the Harriott II, the vessel’s captain said, and were repeatedly asked to move their pontoon boat so the riverboat could dock.

Harriott II captain Jim Kittrell told media outlets he believed the attack on co-captain Damien Pickett over the weekend was “racially motivated.”

Richard Roberts, 48; Allen Todd, 23; and Zachery Shipman, 25, were charged with third-degree misdemeanor assault in the attack on Pickett at a dock in Riverfront Park, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl J. Albert said at a news conference.

All three turned themselves in, Montgomery Police Maj. Saba Coleman told The Washington Post. She added that Roberts also has a warrant pending for striking a 16-year-old White boy, and that Reggie Gray, a 42-year-old Black man who was seen on video hitting people with a folding chair during the brawl, has not turned himself in after police called on him to do so.

White men charged with assaulting Black man in Montgomery Riverfront brawl

Authorities said that they had consulted with the FBI and would not be able to charge the White men with a hate crime or with inciting a riot. But Kittrell, who told WACV in Montgomery that riverboat staff previously “had trouble” with the boaters from Selma, Ala., emphasized that he believed the assault on Pickett, 43, was due to racism.

“The White guys that attacked my deckhand — and he was a senior deckhand first mate — I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” Kittrell, who is White, told the Daily Beast on Tuesday. “All he did was move their boat up three feet. It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet. In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated.”

He added to radio show “ News & Views with Joey Clark ” that the brawl after the initial assault of Pickett “was not a Black-and-White thing.”

Neither Pickett nor Kittrell, 62, immediately responded to requests for comment Wednesday morning.

Albert announced the charges against Roberts, Todd and Shipman three days after videos went viral of the brawl, which was decried by Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed (D) as “an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred.”

“This is not indicative of who we are,” said Reed, Montgomery’s first Black mayor. On Wednesday, Reed criticized Todd and Shipman after they “did not honor their agreement to surrender to authorities,” and said that police “will do what it takes to bring them to justice.”

What we know about the Montgomery Riverfront brawl

Videos taken by onlookers and spread around the internet showed the Black co-captain, Pickett, arguing with one of the pontoon boaters on Saturday as a second White man charges at Pickett and hits him in the face. Pickett then tosses his cap into the air before the two hit each other. Almost immediately, Pickett is swarmed by several White men on the dock who throw punches while the Black man was on the ground, according to the videos posted online.

White and Black people on the dock and shore appear to jump in to try to help Pickett, and someone appears to jump off the riverboat and swim to the dock to help the co-captain. As the initial tussle calmed down, videos appeared to show a group of Black men confronting the White boaters. That fighting lasted more than a minute, with one of the Black men — allegedly Gray — being recorded hitting a White woman in the head with a folding chair and then being surrounded by police. One person seemed to get punched off the dock into the water.

Police detained 13 people for questioning, then released them, Albert said. The police chief said that “no stone was unturned” in deciding ultimately to not charge Roberts, Todd and Shipman with more serious charges.

“We examined this over a period of time, not only that night but since that night,” he told reporters. “At this time, based on the way the statutes read the laws are crafted, we were unable to present any inciting a riot or racially-biased charges.”

Kittrell has captained the Harriott II for about 13 years, steering the riverboat since it was originally known as Savannah River Queen of Savannah, Ga., according to the Selma Times-Journal . He told the Daily Beast he’s known Pickett for about 10 years during their time together on the Harriott II, a 19th-century riverboat offering dinner, dancing and live entertainment as part of Montgomery’s popular Riverfront Park.

The riverboat captain said this week that the three White men were part of a group of pontoon boaters from Selma that he’s had issues with in recent years.

“We’ve had trouble with them in the past, but just like jokey things,” he said Monday to the Montgomery radio station.

He pointed to an instance a couple of years ago when one of the riverboat’s golf carts was missing after returning from a cruise. Kittrell said the group had taken it and left it in an odd place: the lobby of a Hampton Inn.

“We looked at the Hampton Inn video, found out who did it, and we had them come down,” the riverboat captain told the radio station. “We were going to press charges then, but the police talked us out of it.”

But what unfolded Saturday was different, he said. When Kittrell noticed the pontoon boat was partially blocking the area where the riverboat docks, he asked the pontoon boat’s passengers over the PA system to move the boat “about five times,” he recalled. After he threatened to call the police on the boaters, “they started shooting birds at us,” which led him to call law enforcement, Kittrell told the radio station.

“I was nice as a peach when I was talking to them at first: ‘Please, help me out here, fellas. Move the boat up a little bit,’” he told the Daily Beast.

Not long after Pickett attempted to push the pontoon boat forward a few feet, Kittrell saw his colleague get attacked by the men from Selma.

“We’re 40 yards or 30 yards away from the dock watching all of this. There’s nothing we can do,” he said to the radio station. “About that time, another guy comes running up. And within a minute or so, it was an all-out brawl. And then I saw some more guys coming, and I said, ‘Oh. Thank God. They’re going to break it up.’ But instead of breaking it up, they jumped on him too. So, at one time, it was like six, seven guys on my deckhand that was trying to move the boat.”

While Kittrell maintained that the attack on Pickett was racially motivated, he emphasized that the rest of the brawl, which appeared to be along racial lines, was not the same as the initial encounter. He said he was thankful for the Harriott II staff for standing up and coming to Pickett’s aid during the attack.

“It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate. They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared,” he told the Daily Beast. “When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.”

• Men charged in Montgomery brawl had been ‘trouble’ for riverboat, captain says August 10, 2023 Men charged in Montgomery brawl had been ‘trouble’ for riverboat, captain says August 10, 2023
• How oral storytelling helped a blind man see the Montgomery brawl August 12, 2023 How oral storytelling helped a blind man see the Montgomery brawl August 12, 2023
• Racial tensions linger in Montgomery after dock brawl August 12, 2023 Racial tensions linger in Montgomery after dock brawl August 12, 2023

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Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’

Riverfront brawl brings unwelcome attention to historic civil rights city in Alabama

Police in Montgomery, Alabama, said three people are expected to be in custody Tuesday on charges including misdemeanor assault in connection with a riverfront brawl that drew nationwide attention. (Aug. 8)

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed speaks a news conference at City Hall in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday August 8, 2023, to discuss a riverfront brawl. Listening at right is Police Chief Darryl Albert. Video circulating on social media showed a large melee Saturday, Aug. 5, that appeared to begin when a crew member of a city-operated riverboat tried to get a pontoon boat moved that was blocking the riverboat from docking.(Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

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Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, left, listens as Police Chief Darryl Albert speaks a news conference at City Hall in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, to discuss a riverfront brawl. Video circulating on social media showed a large melee Saturday, Aug. 5, that appeared to begin when a crew member of a city-operated riverboat tried to get a pontoon boat moved that was blocking the riverboat from docking.(Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

The Harriott II riverboat sits docked in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. A riverfront brawl occurred on Aug. 5 when a crew member was punched for trying to move a pontoon boat that was blocking the riverboat from docking. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Three white boaters in Alabama’s capital city will be charged with misdemeanor assault for a riverfront brawl with a Black boat captain that drew nationwide attention, with more charges likely to come, police said.

Videos of the incident, which circulated widely on social media, have proven crucial in investigating what happened, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said. One person has turned himself in and the other two have agreed to turn themselves in by the end of the day Tuesday.

“The investigation is ongoing and more charges are likely,” Albert said.

The fight was largely split along racial lines and began when a moored pontoon boat blocked the Harriott II riverboat from docking in its designated space along the city’s riverfront, Albert said. The Harriott II had 227 passengers aboard for a tour.

The viral video of white boaters assaulting a Black riverboat captain and the following melee brought unwelcome attention to the historic city — which is known across the country for the Montgomery bus boycott in the 1950s and voting rights marches in the 1960s. The city in recent decades has tried to move beyond its reputation as a site of racial tension and to build a tourism trade instead based on its critical role in the Civil Rights Movement.

“I don’t think you can judge any community by any one incident. This is not indicative of who we are,” Mayor Steven Reed said Tuesday. He noted that the people on the pontoon boat were not from Montgomery. “It’s important for us to address this as an isolated incident, one that was avoidable and one that was brought on by individuals who chose the wrong path of action,” Reed said.

Before the fight began, the riverboat captain tried to contact the pontoon boat owner by loudspeaker. People on the other boat responded with “obscene gestures, curse words and taunting,” the police chief said. The riverboat co-captain took another vessel to shore to attempt to move the pontoon boat and “was attacked by several members of the private boat.” Albert said several people from the riverboat came to the co-captain’s defense, “engaging in what we all have seen since on social media.”

Video captured by bystanders showed that once the Harriott II docked, several people from the riverboat rushed to confront the people on the pontoon boat and more fighting broke out. The video showed people being shoved, punched and kicked, and one man hitting someone with a chair. At least one person was knocked into the water.

“The co-captain was doing his job. He was simply trying to move the boat just enough so the cruise ship could park safely, but it quickly escalated,” Albert said.

The police chief said so far the charges are against people from the pontoon boat who assaulted the co-captain and a 16-year-old who got involved. Police are trying to locate and question the man with the chair.

The fight took place along Montgomery’s downtown riverfront in an area where slaveowners once unloaded people from steam boats to be sold at auction.

Now, the city has developed the area into a tourist and recreation place with restaurants, bars and hotels. The Harriott II take tourists on sightseeing trips with food and entertainment, along the Alabama River.

The brawl sparked dozens of internet memes and videos with some joking that the chair should be placed in a local museum.

Albert said while some made racial taunts, the police department does not believe the motivation behind the fight rises to the standard of a hate crime. Alcohol is believed to be an escalating factor, he said.

Christa Owen of Clanton was aboard the riverboat with her husband and their daughter for a dinner cruise to celebrate the daughter’s 12th birthday. She said the riverboat captain said on loudspeaker: “Black pontoon boat, move your boat,” and that passengers also yelled for the boat to move so they could dock.

“They shrugged their shoulders,” Owen said. She said the crew member, identified by police as the co-captain of the riverboat, got off to move the pontoon boat a few feet. Owen said the tension was obvious and mounting before punches were thrown. She said passengers felt helpless as they watched the co-captain get pummeled by several people on shore.

Owen, a stay-at-home mom, filmed the confrontation as it began on the dock. She said as a “mother of many” she knows the importance of being able to document how a conflict started. Once the boat was able to dock, she said her family had to figure out how to get off the boat safely with the fighting going on around them.

“It didn’t have to escalate to that,” she said.

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Two punished for roles in wild alabama riverboat brawl sparked by attack on captain.

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Two participants in the Alabama boat-dock brawl that went viral around the globe this past summer have been sentenced — one to jail and the other to anger-management classes.

Richard Roberts, 48 who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault rap for his role in the violent fracas, was ordered to serve 32 days behind bars along with 100 hours of community service. He will also have to pay court costs.

Mary Todd, 21, copped to a misdemeanor harassment charge and will enroll in anger-management courses as part of a plea deal. She will also be on the hook for court costs related to her case.

Three additional defendants — Allen Todd, 24, Zachary Shipman, 26, and Reggie Ray, 42 — have yet to resolve their cases.

Todd and Shipman were hit with third-degree assault charges, while Ray — who used a folding chair during the fight — faces a disorderly conduct rap.

The melee was sparked when a tourist riverboat carrying 227 passengers was unable to dock in August because a private pontoon boat was parked in its space, Montgomery cops said at the time.

The riverboat’s co-captain, Damien Pickett, asked over a public-address system for the occupants of the pontoon boat to move but was blown off with profanity and obscene gestures.

Pickett was then ferried to the dock in an attempt to speak to the pontoon boat’s passengers in person and was attacked after further words were exchanged.

Several of Pickett’s co-workers on the riverboat jumped to his defense as stunned onlookers watched the brawl deteriorate, with bystanders joining the fray.

A witness told police that the occupants of the pontoon boat used racial slurs during the assault against Pickett, who is black.

But prosecutors declined to hit the assailants with hate-crime raps, and Pickett himself told investigators that he didn’t believe race played a role in the incident.

A white teen dock worker who accompanied Pickett during his attempt to speak to the boat’s passengers was also beaten, officials noted.

“It’s important for us to understand that there was a young white dock worker or someone who worked on the boat who also tried to help and who was attacked as well,” Montgomery mayor Steven Reed said after the footage went viral.

The city’s police chief, who is black, said the case was thoroughly vetted.

“Knowing Montgomery’s history, knowing all the civil-rights things that we went through here in the city of Montgomery and what the means to the nation, we were very amped-up to get this right,” Chief Darryl Albert said.

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Bodies of child, father recovered from Tennessee River identified

They were not wearing life jackets, authorities said..

LINDEN, Tenn. (WSMV) – BREAKING UPDATE: The bodies found in the Tennessee River on Wednesday have been identified. The father was identified as 31-year-old Michael Ryan Tucker, while the child was identified as 4-year-old Michael Allen Tucker.

The investigation is ongoing.

PREVIOUS: The bodies of a child and presumably their father were recovered from the Tennessee River on Wednesday morning in what officials are describing as a sad accident.

Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems said the father and child, believed to be about 4 or 5 years old, went fishing sometime Tuesday evening and fell into the water. The child’s body was found at about 6:45 a.m. at a gravel site near the river off Highway 412, while the man was found at 12:30 p.m.

Their identities have not yet been released pending next-of-kin notification. They were not wearing life vests, according to Weems.

Officials say fishing is not allowed and no trespassing signs are posted in the area, but it’s still a popular area to fish. Deaths have happened there before, Weems said.

The Tennesse Bureau of Investigation is working alongside the Perry County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation. Authorities have emphasized their bodies are not connected to any missing person’s case.

The Decatur County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the recovery of the bodies.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Copyright 2024 WSMV. All rights reserved.

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Body Of College Student Who Disappeared On Frat Trip Is Found In River

A uthorities in Tennessee announced Friday  that the body of a missing University of Missouri student was found in a Nashville river, weeks after he disappeared.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said the body of Riley Strain, 22, was located about 8 miles away from the downtown area in the Cumberland River, adding that there were no signs of “foul play-related trauma.”

Speaking at a press conference , police Chief John Drake said the body was found in the clothes that Strain had worn the night he disappeared.

Strain was last seen while on a trip with his Delta Chi Fraternity brothers on March 8, when he disappeared upon leaving Luke’s 32 Bridge, musician Luke Bryan’s honky-tonk bar.

A cousin of Strain’s told local news outlet WKRN  that the student’s mother last heard from him around 7:30 p.m. that night, when he told her that he was “having a good time.”

Surveillance footage shared by Nashville police showed an apparently disoriented Strain walking away after leaving the bar.

TC Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Luke’s 32 Bridge in partnership with Bryan,  denied over-serving the college student , saying that Strain was only served “one alcoholic drink and two waters.” 

In a statement shared with HuffPost, the business said that bar security escorted the college student out at around 9:35 p.m. with one member of his party.

Strain’s friends told authorities that they got separated from him and tried to locate him through Snapchat’s location function, but were unsuccessful, according to a police report cited by The Tennessean .

In a statement released March 11 , the Delta Chi Fraternity headquarters said that it was aware of the disappearance and “hopeful” for Strain’s safe return. 

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Friday  addressed the discovery of Strain’s body .

“This is not the outcome that anyone hoped for – especially his parents and everyone who loved him” O’Connell wrote on social media.

“I met with Riley’s family earlier this week, and as devastating as I find this news, I can’t imagine their heartbreak,” he added . “We will continue to work toward improvements in safety in a variety of ways.”

• Luke Bryan's Nashville Bar Denies Overserving College Student Who's Now Missing
• Body Found In Duffel Bag Could Be Missing 4-Year-Old Boy, Police Say
• Search Continues In Nashville For Missing Student Riley Strain

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New Taskforce to Fight Gun Violence In Westchester: 'Focused On Getting To Root Of Problem'

A newly created task force is dedicating itself to preventing gun violence in Westchester, officials announced. 

County officials, including County Executive George Latimer and County Legislator Shanae Williams, announced the task force's creation on Tuesday, March 26.

The creation of the Westchester County Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce, which will unify efforts to combat shootings, was announced by county officials on Tuesday, March 26. 

The task force will work with organizations that are currently working against gun violence and encourage collaboration across these agencies so they can leverage each other's resources. 

"Gun violence is not a major problem in Westchester County, but one death or injury due to gun violence is one too many and we are focused on getting to the root of the problem," said County Executive George Latimer. 

Latimer continued, "Through the establishment of the Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce, we are taking proactive steps to address this critical issue head-on. By bringing together diverse voices and expertise, we will develop comprehensive strategies to create safer communities for all." 

The task force will also work to change social conditions and influences that lead young people to commit gun violence; engage communities in meaningful dialogue about violent incidents, including victims and perpetrators; and develop prevention and intervention strategies. 

County officials praised the task force's creation and highlighted its need. 

"Yonkers is a relatively safe city for its size, but gun violence is still an issue. A few years ago, there was a shooting in front of my building at Getty Square," said County Legislator Shanae Williams, who joined Latimer in announcing the task force's creation.

Williams added, "This incident made me consider ways to address the problem holistically in my community." 

County Legislator James Nolan, who has also been personally affected by gun violence, also stressed the need for the task force.

"As someone who lost their brother to illegal gun violence, I know what its impact on a family and a community looks like," Nolan said, adding, "It is high time for all of us to come together and find a solution to this issue. I look forward to doing anything I can to help make the task force successful." 

Those seeking more information about the task force can contact Deputy Director of Operations Emily Saltzman at (914) 995-2912.

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Epa sets strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses in bid to fight climate change.

Matthew Daly And Tom Krisher

Associated Press

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

FILE - Motor vehicle traffic moves along the Interstate 76 highway in Philadelphia, March 31, 2021. The EPA on Friday, March 29, 2024, set new greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles, an action that officials said will clean up some of the nation's largest sources of planet-warming pollution. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday set strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles, an action that officials said will help clean up some of the nation's largest sources of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

The new rules, which take effect for model years 2027 through 2032, will avoid up to 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades and provide $13 billion in net benefits in the form of fewer hospital visits, lost work days and deaths, the EPA said. The new standards will especially benefit an estimated 72 million people in the United States who live near freight routes used by trucks and other heavy vehicles and bear a disproportionate burden of dangerous air pollution, the agency said.

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“Heavy-duty vehicles are essential for moving goods and services throughout our country, keeping our economy moving. They’re also significant contributors to pollution from the transportation sector — emissions that are fueling climate change and creating poor air quality in too many American communities,'' EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.

"Reducing emissions from our heavy-duty vehicles means cleaner air and less pollution. It means safer and more vibrant communities. It means lower fuel and maintenance costs for truck owners and operators. And it means healthier Americans,'' Regan said.

The new rules for heavy trucks and buses come a week after the EPA announced new automobile emissions standards for passenger vehicles . Those rules relax initial tailpipe limits proposed last year but get close to the same strict standards set out by the EPA for model year 2032.

The auto industry could meet the limits if 56% of new passenger vehicle sales are electric by 2032, along with at least 13% plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars, the EPA said.

The rule for trucks is more complex, with a range of electric-vehicle or other non-traditional sales projected, depending on the type of vehicle and use, the agency said. For instance, 30% of “heavy-heavy-duty vocational” trucks would need to be zero-emission by 2032, the EPA said, while 40% of short-haul “day cabs” would need be zero emission vehicles.

The new rules for cars and trucks come as sales of EVs, which are needed to meet both standards, have begun to slow . The auto industry cited lower sales growth in objecting to the EPA’s preferred standards unveiled last April for passenger vehicles, a key part of President Joe Biden's ambitious plan to cut planet-warming emissions.

“Our Clean Trucks plan works in tandem with President Biden’s unprecedented investments in America and delivers on this administration’s commitment to tackling climate change while advancing environmental justice,'' Regan said.

The new rule will provide greater certainty for the industry, while supporting U.S. manufacturing jobs in advanced vehicle technologies, Regan said. Over the next decade, the standards “will set the U.S. heavy-duty sector on a trajectory for sustained growth,'' he said.

Industry groups strongly disagreed. They lambasted the new standards as unreachable with current electric-vehicle technology and complained about a lack of EV charging stations and power grid capacity limits.

The American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represent large swaths of the industry, predicted supply chain failures and said that smaller independent firms would likely hang onto older diesel trucks that spew more pollution, running counter to the EPA’s goals.

The new limits lower zero-emission sales rates proposed for the 2027 through 2029 model years but require higher sales later, resulting in a practical mandate for electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, the trucking associations said in a statement. The EPA rule limits choices for trucks and buses to unproven technology, the group said.

“The post-2030 targets remain entirely unachievable,” said Chris Spear, the trucking group's CEO. “Any regulation that fails to account for the operational realities of trucking will set the industry and America’s supply chain up for failure.”

Todd Spencer, president of the independent drivers association, which represents small trucking companies, said the Democratic administration “seems dead-set on regulating every local mom-and-pop business out of existence with its flurry of unworkable environmental mandates.”

The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said in a joint statement with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers that the new rule “is yet another example of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government effort to eliminate choices for American consumers, businesses and industries.''

The rule relies principally on zero-emission vehicles and “disincentivizes the development of other fuel-based technologies — including American-made renewable diesel — that are working in today’s heavy-duty fleet to reduce emissions,'' the groups said.

They called for the rule to be overturned by Congress but said they are prepared to challenge it in court.

Regan said the EPA crafted the limits to give truck owners a choice of powertrains including advanced combustion vehicles, hybrids and electric and hydrogen fuel cells.

“There’s a list of options that truck drivers, owners and operators can choose from ... while we (do) not sacrifice the very stringent environmental goals that we have set,” he told reporters Thursday.

The EPA calculated that new trucks would save operators a total of $3.5 billion in fuel and other costs from 2027 to 2032, paying for themselves in two to four years. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act also provides tax credits that subsidize the purchase price of new electric vehicles, Regan said.

The new emissions limits will bring immediate health benefits, especially in communities burdened by heavy truck traffic, said Harold Wimmer, CEO of the American Lung Association.

“Transportation is the largest source of pollution driving climate change,” he said in a statement. “These strong standards that will help drive toward a zero-emission future for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles are a critical part of the solution.”

Margo Oge, a former director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said medium and heavy diesel trucks make up less than 6% of vehicles on the road “but spew more than half the smog and soot Americans breathe" and contribute to global warming. The EPA standards “are a big step in the right direction to fight climate change and help us breathe cleaner air,” she said.

Follow the AP's coverage of the EPA at https://apnews.com/hub/us-environmental-protection-agency .

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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5 hurt after shots fired during fight over parking space at a Detroit bar

DETROIT (AP) — Five people were wounded early Friday after what Detroit police say was a dispute over a parking space outside a blues club.

The argument started about 2:45 a.m. and had become physical when one man involved pulled a gun from a vehicle and fired shots into a crowd, Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald told reporters.

“When he came back he brought a gun, as most cowards do,” Fitzgerald added. “Five people get shot over a parking spot is just silly to me.”

The gunman then drove away. Seven or eight shell casings were found in the parking lot. No arrests have been made.

Fitzgerald said it appears only one of the shooting victims was involved in the fight. The others were bystanders. All five, ranging in age from 33 to 49, were hospitalized in stable condition, he added.

Police also are looking into why the club still was open for business after 2 a.m., since it doesn’t have a city permit for extended hours, Fitzgerald said.

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As lease for Johnson's Pond is about to expire in Coventry, a fight takes place in court

by BRIAN CRANDALL, NBC 10 NEWS

(WJAR) — The fight over Johnson’s Pond went to court on Thursday, just days before an important lease for the body of water in Coventry expires.

Lawyers for the pond owners and the Town of Coventry met privately with a judge for about 45 minutes but came out with no order, no decision, nothing new.

The town was seeking a temporary restraining order to keep the pond owners, Soscia Holdings, from destroying the pond dam or taking any other drastic action with the pond, when their lease with the town of Coventry expires Monday.

That 15-year lease allowed for recreation on the pond that was initially created more than 175 years ago to feed downstream mills.

• MORE COVERAGE: Coventry seeks temporary restraining order against Johnson's Pond owner

Soscia Holdings bought the rights four years ago, and since then residents have complained about water levels on the pond, claiming damage to boats, docks, and wildlife.

Soscia’s lawyer has argued everything they’ve done is within that lease.

The situation has been tied up in court.

So what came out of the lawyers meeting with the judge?

“The parties acknowledge that the order entered by Judge Licht last summer is in full force and effect,” said The Attorney for the Town of Coventry Stephen Angell.

• MORE COVERAGE: Federal judge dismisses Johnson's Pond owners' lawsuit against state

“And that order means what? That the Soscias can’t do anything to the pond?,” asked NBC 10’s Brian Crandall.

“That’s our interpretation of the order,” said Angell.

The lawyer for Soscia declined to comment, but told the I-Team earlier this week that claims they may destroy the dam are a blatant misrepresentation, and that nothing dramatic will happen once the lease ends.

The fight to cure South Sudan’s mysterious neurological disorder

Nodding syndrome is a distressing disease that stunts growth, harms brains and sparks convulsions. Though its cause is still unknown, there is now hope that epilepsy drugs can help afflicted children

T he other children move away, frightened, when the convulsions start. Tabo takes a long, guttural breath before slumping on to the ground unconscious, her entire body shaking. The 17-year-old’s mother, Penina Monyo Gulu Biro, gently holds the girl while the attack lasts.

A minute or two later, Tabo (pictured above) sits up again, tears rolling down her cheeks. “She cries because she’s sad to be like this,” says Biro.

In 2016, Tabo was diagnosed with nodding syndrome, the neurological disorder that killed her 10-year-old sister, Nyibili.

Nodding syndrome was first identified in Tanzania in the 1960s, then it was seen in South Sudan in the 1990s and in Uganda in 2007. In the past five years cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon, according to Dr Gasim Abd-Elfarag, an expert on the disease who leads a South Sudanese charity, Access for Humanity.

An aerial view of the Dombolo River, near Mvolo town, in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state

But South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, where Tabo’s home town of Mvolo is located, has the highest prevalence of nodding syndrome in the world, with more than 6,000 cases recorded at health facilities across four of the state’s 10 counties. “New cases are also being discovered in other counties, like Wulu, in Lakes state,” says Stephen Jada, a doctor and researcher with Amref Health Africa, the aid organisation leading the response in the country.

Amref is part of the Nodding Syndrome Alliance (NSA), a consortium of aid groups and universities established in 2019 that runs research programmes and specialised clinics in the counties of Maridi, Mundri West and Mundri East, which border Mvolo to the south.

Tabo Yowan, left, a 17-year-old who has nodding syndrome, with her mother, Penina Monyo Gulu Biro

There is no specialist clinic in Mvolo county, although the area is a hotspot of the disease, with 3,000 cases, according to Lexon Bira, a local coordinator for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, a government-run humanitarian agency.

Remote villages have little to no access to the anti-epileptic drugs that can help manage symptoms.

The cause of nodding syndrome is still unknown and no cure has been found for the disease, which affects children aged three and above, continuing into adulthood. When it begins, head-nodding episodes are triggered by the sight of food and dropping temperatures.

Without epilepsy drugs, the condition worsens, with seizures potentially causing accidents and even death. Long-term effects include brain damage, stunted growth and mental impairment.

Affected children often become socially isolated as they are kept away from gatherings. “Children with nodding syndrome face different types of stigma, mainly because there is a lack of understanding of the condition, where it comes from and how it is transmitted,” says Sophia Mohammed, South Sudan director for one of the NSA charities, Light for the World, which supports disabled people and promotes eye health.

“They often don’t eat with others,” she says. “They are usually kept out of school and those who do attend school are often asked to sit separately from the rest of the class.”

L ilian Sebit Doro’s daughter Grace died in 2019. “She died of malaria and chest pain,” says Lilian, who attributes her child’s death to nodding syndrome weakening her body. Two of her three remaining children also have the disease.

Her daughter, Roda Taban, who is 25, can experience up to “12 attacks in one night” so Lilian sleeps in the same room to ensure Roda does not accidentally harm her baby when she starts convulsing.

Lilian’s 30-year-old son also has constant attacks and is nearly blind due to onchocerciasis, known as river blindness, a disease caused by a parasitic worm transmitted by the bite of an infected black fly.

Lilian Sebit Doro, holding her grandson, stands by the grave of her daughter Grace Taban, who died of malaria in 2019. Lilian attributes her death to nodding syndrome weakening her too much to fight it

After losing her job as a cook for an international aid organisation that shut down its operations in Mvolo in 2022, Lilian could no longer afford epilepsy drugs. “I can’t tell what is causing this sickness, whether it’s the black fly or the killing of relatives,” she says, referring to local beliefs that nodding syndrome and epilepsy are a punishment for sharing food with someone who killed your relative without conducting cleansing rituals.

Researchers have identified a link between nodding syndrome, exposure to black-fly bites and onchocerciasis infection. The black fly breeds along fast-flowing rivers, such as the Mvolo River.

Jada, from Amref Health Africa , says: “We observed that among communities living near rivers, where onchocerciasis is very prevalent, cases of epilepsy and nodding syndrome are more numerous.

“The further you get from the river, the lower the number of cases. And when you go to villages where there is no river, where you do not observe black-fly bites, cases of nodding syndrome are rare, if not absent.”

Nodding syndrome is likely to be a form of “onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy”, says Jada, although he adds: “We don’t know how onchocerciasis could cause the disease.

“Tests have been carried out to see if the parasites reach the brain, or if they release a toxin that causes it, without success,” he adds. “This is all still under investigation.”

The bridge over the Dombolo River near Mvolo town. The Dombolo’s fast-flowing current and abundant grass on its banks provide an ideal breeding environment for the black fly

Several other theories have emerged to explain the upsurge of nodding syndrome cases in the region. Spoiled food aid, chemical weapons that could have been used during the civil war and nutritional deficiencies have all been investigated as potential causes, but “no conclusive results came out”, says Abd-Elfarag.

“It’s still a mysterious disease,” he says. “We’re still unable to put the puzzle together and understand its actual cause.”

R esearchers have turned their attention to intervention studies centred on the black fly. These include slash-and-clear operations to get rid of the grass where the insect breeds. Campaigns to treat onchocerciasis with an anti-parasitic drug are now conducted by health authorities twice a year, after decades of interruption due to the civil war and the years of instability that followed South Sudan’s independence 13 years ago.

Benneth Bare, left, and Julius Sebit Emmanuel volunteer to catch black fly for a research project on onchocerciasis

Catching black fly, which carry the parasite responsible for onchocerciasis or ‘river blindness’. Researchers have identified a link between nodding syndrome, exposure to black-fly bites and onchocerciasis infection

In northern Uganda, as well as more recently in the South Sudanese town of Maridi, another hard-hit area of Western Equatoria, such interventions have made a difference : the number of new cases of nodding syndrome fell when both the black fly and onchocerciasis were eradicated.

A similar approach was introduced in Mvolo last year. Sitting on rocks by the Mvolo River, volunteers spend days catching black flies and trapping them in tubes, writing down the numbers collected every hour. The samples are then sent to the capital, Juba, and, from May this year, to the University of Antwerp for further analysis and to identify what percentage of black flies carry the parasite responsible for river blindness.

I n Mundri, a more developed town 60 miles (100km) south of Mvolo, the specialised clinic run by NSA has registered 1,500 patients since it opened in 2020. Providing free epilepsy drugs has helped to reduce the frequency of seizures and head-nodding episodes.

“We’ve recorded 25 deaths so far, but the majority are now living a better life – they can work or go back to school,” says Joseph Yoto, the clinic’s nurse.

The main road running through Mvolo town in South Sudan

At Mundri Adventist primary school, only five of the 650 pupils are affected by nodding syndrome. “There are many more in the community, but parents still refuse to put them to school,” says Rebecca Aunty Ezbon, an education officer for the Sudan Evangelical Mission, which trains teachers on how to treat pupils with the condition.

Lukowe Christine Tina is one of the teachers. “I had that mentality – that if I touched [a pupil while they were convulsing], nodding will be transferred to me,” she says.

Negend Bouda, left, a pupil with nodding syndrome at Mundri Adventist primary school, with her teacher Lukowe Christine Tina. Bouda is part of the nodding syndrome alliance clinic and project, and has been successful in school thanks to the support she received

She learned that the disease was not contagious, and was advised on the best way to respond during epileptic seizures. She noticed an improvement in those taking medication provided by the clinic, and has become convinced of the potential of her pupils with the condition.

“Some of them like to play music with traditional instruments, others like debate activities in English,” she says. “We need to find out where they are most comfortable to express themselves and thrive in school.”

Negend Bouda, 19, had almost given up on school “because she felt scared and ashamed” after having convulsions in the classroom. But the teacher convinced her to return and spoke to her classmates.

Lukowe says: “We had to give them awareness: not to run away from her, that this disease cannot affect someone just by associating with the person. So they understood. And she managed to sit for her exams. She’s OK now; she’s following her medication and she’s free.”

Bouda successfully passed her primary leaving certificate in December 2023. She calls her teacher her “best friend”.

“I hope to go on and study at the university,” she says, “so I can become a doctor, and help the many others with nodding syndrome, as well as those who are blind, those who are disabled, so they can go back to school, be strong in their body, and work. People should not fear them.”

The sun sets over the forest around Mundri town in Western Equatoria

• Global health
• South Sudan
• Infectious diseases
• Medical research

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