The Cincinnati police chief has slammed social media posts about the viral mass brawl that occurred in the city, saying that the outrage lacked ‘context.’
Police Chief Terri Theetge gave an update at a press conference on Monday after footage emerged showing a man and woman being attacked over the weekend in the downtown area of the Ohio city.
Chief Theetge also took aim at the media for only showing ‘one version’ of what occurred – without giving any more context about the fight herself.
She said: ‘Social media and journalism and the role it plays in this incident, the posts that we have 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 a misrepresentation of the circumstances surrounding any given event.
‘That causes us some difficulties in thoroughly investigating the activity and enforcing the law. Social media posts and your coverage of it distort the context of what actually happened, and that makes it more difficult.’
Chief Theetge confirmed in her update that five people have since been charged, but their records remain sealed at this time.
The female victim was identified by her first name, Holly, but the other victim has not yet been identified. Police are yet to provide details on what led up to the fight.
Police Chief Terri Theetge hit out at the media and social media for distorting the truth behind the brawl – however, she refused to give any more context herself
Five people have been charged in connection with the violent brawl that erupted in Cincinnati
She added: ‘I will say if individuals were down there and participated in this event, it would be in their best interest to turn themselves in.’
According to Theetge, she believes that alcohol had played a ‘significant part’ in the brawl, while saying police only received one 911 call about it.
‘Nobody called the police. Nobody got us there as quickly as we could get there. They waited until they saw it on social media.
‘That is unacceptable to not call the police when you view this. Traffic was horrendous. People saw this, they were fighting in front of traffic’, she added.
Chief Theetge was unable to give an update on the victims’ conditions, but Cincinnati FOP President Ken Sober said they suffered ‘pretty serious injuries.’
Former presidential candidate and now Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had identified the woman in the clip as ‘Holly.’
He said on social media: ‘I spoke to Holly earlier today (the woman tragically assaulted in Cincinnati this weekend).
‘She’s a single working mom who went to a friend’s birthday party. It’s unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital.’
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy identified the woman in the clip as ‘Holly’
In shocking footage of the fight, a man in a white t-shirt was shoved to the ground and beaten by two men as other members of the crowd jeered and joined in.
The gang beat the man for nearly a minute as he lay in the middle of the street, seemingly stepping on his head multiple times.
When the barrage of attacks temporarily stopped, he was seen attempting to stand – but immediately fell over in apparent disorientation. One attacker yelled out ‘my man’s drunk’.
A woman in a black dress rushed to his aid, but was attacked by the crowd, suffering two blows to the face.
The impact caused her to fall, with her head slamming onto the pavement. Blood spewed from her mouth.
Vice President JD Vance waded in on the clip captured in his home state on Monday, saying anybody involved should have be thrown in prison.
The gang beat the man for nearly a minute as he lay in the middle of the street
He said: ‘I don’t know the full context, but the one part that I saw that was really gruesome is you had a grown man who sucker punched a middle-age woman.
‘That person ought to go to jail for a very long time – and frankly, he’s lucky there weren’t some better people around because they would’ve handled it themselves.
‘We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children, the only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engage in that violence and throw their asses in prison.’
Elon Musk also took to his social media to question what he suggested was a lack of response to the incident.
‘Why zero stories?’ the Tesla CEO asked Sunday, retweeting a post from the End Wokeness X account alleging that the attack wasn’t being covered by news outlets.
End Wokeness posted a tweet early Sunday afternoon claiming CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox News, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, had failed to cover the attack.
By late Sunday evening the terrifying assault had been covered by several local and national media outlets, including Daily Mail and Fox News.
