5 people charged in ‘vicious’ brawl in Cincinnati that sparked safety debate in the city

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Five people have been charged in a bloody, late-night brawl in downtown Cincinnati over the weekend that involved dozens of people and raised concerns about crime in the Ohio city.

A video of the fight early Saturday shows a crowd milling about before several people start throwing punches. One man falls to the ground and was repeatedly punched and kicked by a bystanders. Another woman is punched in the face and falls to the ground, lying motionless before another woman helps her. She can be seeing bleeding from the mouth.

“I am outraged by the vicious fight that occurred downtown,” Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in a statement. “It is horrifying to watch, and this is unacceptable and disgusting behavior is intolerable in any part of our community.”

Three days after the brawl, the city has released little information about it other than to say it was not related to a Cincinnati Reds game, a basketball tournament or a jazz festival that attracted over 150,000 people to the city. It said five people have been charged in the brawl but only two had been arrested as of Tuesday.

Police Chief Teresa Theetge said more people would be charged, warning that anyone who “put their hands on another individual during this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences.” She also suggested some bar owners may be culpable for over-serving participants in the confrontation, which occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday.

Theetge appeared on the defensive during the news conference, complaining the brawl was getting all the attention and “undoing all the good stuff that happened this weekend.” She also complained that bystanders took many videos but that only one person called 911. Police responded to the scene after the fight was over, about six minutes after the call.

“For us to get one phone call about this incident is unacceptable in this city,” she said.

The video of the brawl quickly turned political. Vice President JD Vance ’s half brother Cory Bowman, who is running to be Cincinnati’s mayor, flagged the fight on social media on Saturday and blamed city leadership for creating an unsafe environment.

“For many, these images sparked shock and disbelief,” he said in a statement. “For residents within our city limits, they serve as a stark reminder of the ongoing crime and lawlessness we’ve had to endure this summer.”

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at U.S. Justice Department, posted on X above an image of the video that “EVERY American ���� is entitled to the equal protection of our laws. Federal law enforcement is on it and we will ensure that justice is done.”

The videos also became a flashpoint among conservatives online, despite a lack of available details about the incident. Political influencers pointed to it as an example of apparent Black-on-white violence and criticized media coverage of the fight.

“Why zero stories?” billionaire X owner Elon Musk wrote on his social platform on Sunday. Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, fanned the flames, claiming in an X post the same day that the “media blackout” of the story was “telling.”

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Swenson reported from New York.