Cincinnati officials said in an Aug. 1 press conference that widely circulated social media videos showing the attacks on two people during a street brawl last weekend portrayed the city in a cynical and unfair manner.
“It’s overt racial tensions that have been claimed by irresponsible leaders, who have unfortunately cynically tried to take advantage of this awful fight and try and divide us,” Pureval said.
The incident happened on July 27 at 3:06 a.m., when Cincinnati’s downtown area was crowded with more than 150,000 people attending a Cincinnati Reds game, the Cincinnati Music Festival, and a basketball tournament that night.
According to police reports, officers arrived on the scene at 3:12 a.m. to discover the attacks had ended. Most participants were gone, but the victims were still present.
A video filmed by an unnamed bystander during the altercation shows a man in a white T-shirt getting shoved to the ground by two assailants. Moments later, he was beaten and stomped on by multiple people, surrounded by a jeering crowd.
A woman trying to defend the man was knocked out with a punch to the face and left motionless on the ground.
Five men and one woman “were subjected to unimaginable physical violence” in the brawl, Theetge said on Aug. 1.
She added that six people have been charged with felonious assault and aggravated rioting.
Three have been arrested. Police are still searching for three more suspects, and will name them when they’re apprehended, she said.
“This remains an open investigation, and I assure you, we will not stop until justice is fully served,” Theetge said.
Pastor Damon Lynch III was among several speakers who said that the fight was racialized.
“We would not be here, and this will not be national news if this was a group of Black people that jumped on other black people,” Lynch said.
“Obviously, it’s national news because it’s been racialized.”
He said it was a street fight and not a racially motivated attack.
Pureval said that some videos show a man slapping another individual, which escalated the brawl.
The city is actively investigating the man, Pureval added.
Lynch said that what he saw in the videos was a black man and a white man engaged in a verbal dispute. A second black man stepped in and attempted to deescalate the situation, Lynch added.
Then the white man slapped a third black man. After that, the white man was met with “disproportionate force,” Lynch said.
Lynch questioned why only black suspects have been arrested.
“When I see the mugshots, I only see people who look like me. I don’t see the person who ... slapped another black man. So I don’t see the slapper’s mugshot,” he said.
Theetge noted that her department will release more footage of the brawl next week, including body-worn police camera footage.
The police department’s ongoing investigation is the reason why more video footage has not been released, Theetge said.
“Rev. Lynch explained what we saw when he saw the footage, which is the footage that has been extensively viewed by the public,” she explained.
“Probably early next week, I will be releasing additional footage, including body-worn camera footage, that tells a little bit more of the story, but right now I need to let the investigators continue to do their jobs.”
During a July 28 press conference, Theetge said that video footage of the brawl is missing “context.”
“Social media, the posts that we’ve seen, does not depict the entire incident. That is one version of what occurred. At times, social media and mainstream media and their commentaries are misrepresentations of the circumstances surrounding any given event,” Theetge said.
“That causes us some difficulty in thoroughly investigating the activity and enforcing the law. Because what happens [is] that social media post and your coverage of it distorts the content of what actually happened, and it makes our job more difficult.”
Police have tried to contact the man who delivered the slap, but were stopped by the man’s attorney, Theetge added.
“The counsel said, ‘No.’ He did not want the police talking to his client. So therefore we have not had a conversation with him yet,” she said.
Councilman Scotty Johnson, who chairs the city council’s public safety committee, criticized the media for fixating on the brawl.
“When you continuously run a loop where you have national leaders that are speaking irresponsibly, showing black and white people trying to knock each other’s heads off, what role do you play, media, in continually showing that level of violence?” he asked.
Lynch accused national Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), and Vance’s younger half-brother Cory Bowman of “politicizing” the fracas.
Bowman is a Republican candidate for Cincinnati mayor, running against Pureval.
Bowman told The Epoch Times on July 28 that what happened illustrates a “problem that has existed for a while.”
“The police department is already understaffed by about 200 officers, and police officers don’t feel like the city supports them. Morale is low,” he said.
“Few people sign up for opportunities to work these events because they don’t know if their life is going to be in even more danger than it already is as a law enforcement officer.”
He added that his team has consistently said it stands for non-violence.
“The reality is simple: the rising level of crime and lawlessness on our streets is unacceptable for a major American city. Law and order must be at the forefront of the discussion. However, nothing justifies hate, racism, or retaliatory violence. New leadership, combined with prayer and peace, is the path forward,” Bowman wrote.
“There’s a concerning increase in burglaries and breaking and entering, and shootings in some specific areas,” Pureval said.
“Currently, too many Cincinnatians don’t feel safe,” he said. “All of us, especially me, are clear-eyed and working urgently to fix that.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced earlier in the week that he would deploy the state highway patrol to monitor highways in the city.
Pureval said the deployment should free more police officers to be on the city streets.
SWAT and the Civil Disturbance Response Team will expand their presence in the city, Pureval said, adding that residents and visitors will see more police on downtown streets.
“They’re going to see police officers on foot,” Pureval said.
“They’re going to see police officers on bike patrols. They’re going to see police officers in squad cars. They’re going to see police officers on Segways, and on Segways that have three wheels.
“We are prioritizing visibility in our urban core in order to not just maintain safety, but to make sure people feel safe when they’re going out,” Pureval added.
Ramaswamy announced that he will host a town hall in Cincinnati with former Cincinnati Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman on Aug. 4.
The Ohio gubernatorial candidate is from suburban Cincinnati.
