Five people face charges following a large fight caught on camera in Cincinnati, Ohio, according to police. The videos showed a man and woman getting repeatedly hit, with the woman eventually getting punched, falling and hitting her head on concrete.
Fight charges
Police Chief Terri Theetge would not announce any names or charges of the people her department has arrested, saying the record currently remains sealed. She said the two victims in the fight were also identified and that more charges could be coming.
“I will say if individuals were down there and participated in this event, it would be in their best interest to turn themselves in at one of our police districts,” Theetge said in a news conference covered by WLWT. “We have five, we have charged and anticipate more. Let me be clear. Anyone who put their hands on another individual in this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences. I don’t care which side of the incident or fight they were on.”
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The chief also acknowledged alcohol likely played a role in the incident, which ended before police arrived on the scene, and planned to investigate that element as well.
“This is still an open investigation, and all potential charges are being investigated for everyone involved,” Theetge said. “All investigative tools and techniques are on the table, including were some of these individuals overserved at some local establishments?”
The health status of everyone involved in the fight remains unclear, and the chief did not say whether anyone went to the hospital.
The chief also spoke about the role of social media in this incident, sharing disappointment that they only have one video of the incident.
“For us to have 100 or so people down there involved in and or watching this event, recording with their cell phones, and for us to get only one phone call of this incident is unacceptable in this city,” Theetge said.
It remains unclear what started the fight.
Fight response
The video has drawn responses from as high as the White House.
Vice President JD Vance, a former Ohio senator, was asked about it while speaking in nearby Canton, which Right Side Broadcasting Network covered.
“I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw was a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it’s disgusting,” Vance said. “I hope every single one of those people who engaged in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
He continued.
“When you have a grown man who sucker punches a middle-aged woman, that person ought to go to jail for a very long time.”
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval put out a statement on the incident.
“I am outraged by the vicious fight that occurred Downtown,” Pureval said. “It is horrifying to watch, and this unacceptable and disgusting behavior is intolerable in any part of our community.”
Pureval said he’s been in constant communication with police.
Both he and the police chief encouraged people to keep coming to Cincinnati.
“I will still take my family downtown, I will patronize restaurants downtown, I will go to events downtown,” Theetge said.
