CINCINNATI — Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno provided more details Thursday on the condition of one woman injured in what police are calling a "violent attack" in downtown Cincinnati last weekend.
Moreno on Wednesday posted graphic images of injuries the woman, whom he identified as Holly, sustained after the violence.
"This is Holly. She wanted to have a nice evening out with friends. Instead, she got this. Holly gave me permission to release the photos so that others will never suffer what she did," Moreno said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Videos posted to social media show a man punching her in the face, knocking her out. The punch causes her to collapse to the ground as blood appears to pour from her mouth. A group of people then helps the woman as she regains consciousness before the video ends.
WATCH: We learn more about one of the victims in the 'violent attack' last weekend
Moreno told our partners at Scripps News he has spoken to Holly every day since he saw the videos of the violence, calling the situation "heinous."
"She just wanted to have a night out with some friends, you saw what I saw in that video — a complete lunatic attacked her, a mob didn't do anything about it," Moreno said.
Police Chief Teresa Theetge said police received one call about a fight at the intersection of 4th and Elm streets at 3:06 a.m. Saturday. By the time officers arrived at 3:12 a.m., Theetge said all of the people injured in the fight were still at the scene, but many others had left.
The senator said Holly told him after the attack, "one police officer came by ... nobody called an ambulance, the police didn't take her to get her aid, she took an Uber home." Since then, she's been in and out of the hospital multiple times.
Moreno called out both Theetge and Mayor Aftab Pureval, calling on Theetge to speak about how short-staffed CPD is, instead of "(blaming) social media."
He also spoke about a plan to review federal funding going to Cincinnati amid the violence.
"I've given the city council and the mayor 30 days to put together an action plan of what they're going to do to protect the civil rights of their citizens," Moreno said. "If they fail to do that, I will convene the federal agencies that provide money to Cincinnati and ask them to suspend federal funding until there is a plan in place."
We reached out to Pureval regarding Moreno's threat to remove federal funding if action is not taken. His team told us Pureval did cut his vacation short to return home Thursday. In a statement, the mayor said Moreno's claims that there is no plan are false.
"We’re focused on actually solving problems in Cincinnati, rather than using tragedies to play political games and punish residents," Pureval said in part. "It is blatantly false that there is no public safety plan in Cincinnati, and our Senator should know that."
The mayor's team said he will be hosting a press conference Friday to address the public.
We have attempted to reach out to the woman Moreno identified to speak with her about what happened. We have not heard back from her at this time.
