Leaders in Cincinnati Demand Arrest of White Man Caught on Video Slapping Black Man, Sparking Downtown Brawl

Black community leaders in Cincinnati are demanding police arrest the white man caught on viral video slapping a black man during a downtown brawl.While six black people have been charged in the July 26 street fight at Fourth and Elm streets near Paycor Stadium, pastors and dozens of community members who gathered at New Prospect Baptist Church in Roselawn questioned why no charges have been filed against the white man whose slap they say ignited the brawl.“You charge them with inciting a riot, but you don’t charge the person who incited the riot,” the New Prospect Baptist Church pastor and civil rights leader, Reverend Damon Lynch III, said during the meeting. “That’s why state representatives, council persons are here and the community is here, because I don’t know if the city of Cincinnati understands people are not going to sit down for this.”Also in attendance were many local officials, including Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney, who also called for the arrest of the unidentified man. “It’s been over two weeks,” she said. “We saw that video. We saw who incited the violence.”The brawl first went viral last month in the immediate aftermath of the melee, which broke out in downtown Cincinnati during a music festival. The video shows a crowd gathering before several people start throwing punches. One man is seen falling to the ground as he’s repeatedly punched and kicked by an angry mob. A woman was then punched in the face before she fell to the ground and could be seen in the video bleeding from her mouth as she lay motionless.Little is known about what occurred in the moments before the video that may have led to the fracas, but during the meeting a video was played that shows the victim slapping another man before the brawl escalated.“If the riot is because of the slap, who incited the riot? And why are the only people charged, again, I’ll say it, are the ones who look like me,” Reverend Lynch said.Last week, the Cincinnati police chief, Tersea Theetge, said that investigators had tried to interview the man but were prevented from doing so by his lawyer, according to a report from the Cincinnati Enquirer.Mayor Aftab Pureval said that any decisions made for additional charges would “be made as soon as possible.”“I agree with everyone’s frustration,” he said in a statement. “I have been clear about my expectations that, in order to preserve both public safety and fairness, anyone involved in perpetrating the violence should be charged.”

Leaders in Cincinnati Demand Arrest of White Man Caught on Video Slapping Black Man, Sparking Downtown Brawl

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