CINCINNATI — Amid the threat of mounting lawsuits accusing the City of withholding public records, a Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge ruled that documents related to a victim who is also charged in this summer's viral downtown fight will be released.
The city had filed a motion at the end of August, requesting the courts to seal records tied to Alex Tchervinski. The 45-year-old was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct on Aug. 20 — more than three weeks after the July 26 brawl. He is one of nine people facing criminal charges.
We were in the courtroom Monday morning when Tchervinski's attorney informed the judge that the city had agreed to withdraw its request to seal records. The city's attorney was not present.
The documents are publicly accessible under the condition that Tchervinksi's personal information, including his social security number and address, is redacted from the court documents.
Unlike the others charged, Tchervinski's charging documents were not posted online via the court's document portal. We found out through his attorney.
For three weeks after he was charged, we attempted to track down any records tied to his case. Those efforts were unsuccessful as the City Solicitor's Office repeatedly cited Marsy's Law as a reason for the records to be withheld. That law is designed to protect crime victims' rights and privacy.
We were able to access Tchervinski's records related to the fight for the first time Monday.
According to the citation, signed by CPD Central Business District Capt. Adam Hennie, Tchervinski was charged with a misdemeanor citation for "recklessly (causing) alarm to another by taunting another, which conduct is likely to provoke a violent response." The complaint alleges "the offender persisted in the disorderly conduct after reasonable warning or request to desist."
The parties' agreement and judge's subsequent ruling come after the city, its top attorney and Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Pavan Parikh were all sued over the records in two separate lawsuits.
Tchervinski's attorney said Tchervinski and his friends were celebrating a friend's birthday at a bar on Fourth Street that night. He said nothing happened inside the bar that spilled over outside and that Tchervinski was acting in self-defense when he slapped another man.
You can watch a breakdown of the charges against Tchervinski in the video player below:
