A Black deckhand caught in the middle of the Alabama riverfront brawl revealed he was berated with threats by white boaters after he asked them to move their vessel so a dinner cruise could dock. Damien Pickett detailed the frightening moments in a written deposition to Montgomery police that was obtained by NBC News. The Harriott II’s senior deckhand said he had tried to reason with the pontoon boat occupants when he asked them to move, but was instead met with an attack that was captured on video. Mr Pickett recalled being pummeled by the boaters who yelled, “I’m gonna kill you, motherf*****, beat your ass, motherf*****.” “I can’t tell you how long it lasted,” he wrote in the deposition. “I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life.” The Harriott II, which was carrying 227 passengers, had been trying to dock on Saturday evening in Montgomery but a pontoon boat was blocking their spot. After many calls over the PA system asking for the boat owners “five or six times” to move, Mr Pickett wrote, the men on the pontoon responded by “giving us the finger” for about three minutes. Mr Pickett said he and another dockhand then untied the pontoon boat and moved it “three steps to the right” and tied it back to a post so the Harriott II could dock. “By that time, two people ran up behind me,” Mr Pickett wrote. He added that one of the men, in a red hat, yelled to him, “Don’t touch that boat motherf***** or we will beat your ass.” “I told them, ‘No, you won’t,’” he continued, adding that the men kept threatening him, so he told them: “Do what you’ve got to do, I’m just doing my job.” Mr Pickett said the men appeared to be drunk and the boat’s owner, who was wearing a grey shirt and red shorts with a sun visor, “started getting loud … He got into my face. ‘This belongs to the f****** public.’ I told him this was a city dock.” The brawl broke out seconds later and Mr Pickett said that by that time, “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. “Then the guy in the red shorts came up and tackled me … I went to the ground. I think I hit one of them.” Finally, help had arrived, Mr Pickett said as he recounted a tall Black man and a security guard coming to his aid. “Two people were pulling them off me,” he said. But then before he knew it, “one of my co-workers had jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting.” As the Harriott II finally docked, Mr Pickett’s said his nephew “ran off the boat and went after them. I was screaming for him to come back.” “The security guard was trying to get the lady in red to leave; she wouldn’t listen. People from off the boat and spectators were coming down the back end of the dock. The guy who started it all was choking my sister. I hit him, grabbed her and moved her … I turned around and MPD had a Taser in my face. I told him I was the one being attacked and could I finish doing my job.” Mr Pickett did just that as he helped passengers off the cruise boat and apologised to them “for the inconvenience. They all said I did nothing wrong,” he wrote. “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 was eventually transported to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. Five people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the brawl. Reggie Gray, 42, turned himself in to Montgomery Police on Friday, three days after the police chief asked him to get in contact with authorities for further questioning. He was charged with disorderly conduct, police said. Mary Todd, 21, was charged with assault in the third degree. She is currently behind bars in the Municipal Jail, the police added. She joins three other men who were arrested following the wild riverfront fight. It’s unclear whether she and Allen Todd, a 23-year-old man who turned himself in on Wednesday, are related. Zachary Shipman, 25, also turned himself in on Wednesday night after police asked him and Mr Todd to turn themselves in no later than Tuesday. Richard Roberts, 48, was also held in custody in Selma as of Tuesday. Police have previously said that the three men who were arrested were members of the pontoon boat, which was blocking the Harriott II riverboat from docking in its designated space. It’s unclear if Ms Todd was also aboard the craft. The captain of the Harriott II said he believes this interaction was “racially motivated,” but the massive brawl that transpired afterwards was not. Capt Jim Kitrell also noted earlier this week that he has had “trouble” with the pontoon boat owners in the past, and had considered pressing charges against them years ago, yet was talked out of it. Read More Fourth suspect charged with assault in Alabama riverfront brawl as she turns herself in to police Alabama dockside brawl was racially motivated, riverboat captain says Alabama riverboat captain reveals past ‘trouble’ with pontoon boat owners after brawl

Portugal’s president is set to call a snap election after the country was thrown into a political crisis

The Miami Heat produced a fourth-quarter comeback to win the second game of the NBA finals 111-108 and even up the seven-match series against the Denver Nuggets. The Heat trailed by eight heading into the final period, having trailed by 15 earlier in the game in the wake of another massive performance from Nikola Jokic. Jokic scored 41 points, scoring 16 of 28 shots from the floor including one with 36 seconds remaining which cut the Heat’s lead to three points. But after Jimmy Butler missed on Miami’s next possession, Jamal Murray was unable to tie the scores with an effort on the buzzer. The defeat was Denver’s first since May 7 and they had won all 11 play-off games in which they had opened a double-digit lead. They had trailed 21-10 in the opening quarter before a barrage of three-point scores helped them to a 44-32 advantage which had been trimmed to six points at the break. And Miami held on through the third quarter before the late surge that takes the series to Miami all square. Gabe Vincent led the way for Miami with 23 points as Butler and Bam Adebayo each grabbed 21.

Jedidiah Murphy was executed by lethal injection on October 10, which is also the World Day Against the Death Penalty

Scientists have developed eye scans that use artificial intelligence to detect markers of Parkinson’s disease seven years before symptoms appear, making it the first time the condition can be detected several years before diagnosis. Parkinson disease’s is a deteriorating neurological condition characterised by a reduction of dopamine. The research, published on Tuesday in the journal Neurology, used two large sets of health data – the AlzEye dataset and the UK Biobank database – to identify these subtle markers, even though Parkinson’s disease has a relatively low prevalence among this population. The AlzEye dataset was formed from the world’s largest database of retinal images and associated clinical data. Post-mortem examination of Parkinson’s patients has found differences in the retina’s inner nuclear layer (INL). Previous studies have shown eye-scan data can reveal signs of other deterioration of neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. The studies are part of an emerging field of research called “oculomics”. Eye scan data has also been shown to reveal people’s propensity to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Doctors have historically conducted physical eye tests, believing the organ can act as a “window” to the rest of the body, and provide direct insight into many aspects of human health. With high-resolution images of the retina now a routine part of eye care, scientists said the data from these scans can be put to better analysis to gain better insights on patient health. In particular, a type of 3D scan known as optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used in eye clinics and by high-street opticians. These scans can produce a cross-section of the retina – the screen of nerves at the back of the eye – in incredible detail down to a thousandth of a millimetre. Images of the retina can be extremely useful for monitoring eye health. But researchers said their value can become much more as a retinal scan is the only non-intrusive way to view layers of cells below the skin’s surface. They found in the new study that a reduced thickness of these cell layers was associated with an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Scientists have also started using powerful computers and AI technology to accurately analyse large numbers of OCTs and other eye images, in a fraction of the time it would take a human. “While we are not yet ready to predict whether an individual will develop Parkinson’s, we hope that this method could soon become a pre-screening tool for people at risk of disease,” study co-author Siegfried Wagner from the University College London said. “Finding signs of a number of diseases before symptoms emerge means that, in the future, people could have the time to make lifestyle changes to prevent some conditions arising, and clinicians could delay the onset and impact of life-changing neurodegenerative disorders,” Dr Wagner said. Researchers said the OCT method used in the study is also non-invasive of lower cost, more scalable and quicker than brain scans for this purpose. Read More Study could lead to injections that replicate brain benefits of exercise Dementia breakthrough as drug treatment comes one step closer Parkinson’s therapy could be used to tackle alcohol abuse Justin Trudeau slams Facebook for blocking news stories about wildfires Microsoft makes big changes to takeover of Activision Blizzard Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for

SAN FRANCISCO & CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2023--

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