CINCINNATI — A fight broke out at The Banks on Sunday night as police were responding to reports of 300+ teens gathering at Smale Park, the Cincinnati Police Department said.
Reports of large groups of teens gathering started at 8:30 p.m., CPD said.
A chaotic video on the Cincinnati FOP Facebook page shows the teens running into the street between the park and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge. Two teens can be seen throwing punches in the street while dozens of others watch, shouting and screaming.
The crowd then moved up the road and surrounded a car in the street that appeared to be turning away from the fight. A few seconds later, what sounds like a stun gun or a Taser can be heard, which prompts the teens to scream and run in different directions.
"Hundreds of kids running around it appears that there's a fight that takes place spills into the middle of the street," FOP president Ken Kober said. "And kids just kind of follow along — people jump in."
According to police, one person was arrested after the fight.
Police said they worked to disperse the large crowd of teens, moving them toward Fountain Square. A few additional people were arrested for "disorderly conduct" among the large group of teens.
Kober said the teens involved in these incidents "don't fear the justice system."
"I mean, I've talked to officers that encounter these kids all the time, and they're like, 'Look, I don't care. Take me up to 2020 (Auburn Avenue, where the Hamilton County Youth Center is located). I want to be right back out.' So as long as they don't believe that they're going to be held accountable for their actions, they're just going to continue their behavior."
Retired officer Dan Hils echoed Kober's sentiment.
"When juvenile court has decided to not have criminal-like consequences for the behavior of people under 18, there may be not enough structure in their homes, this is the end result," Hils said.
Kober called for parents to be held accountable in addition to the children involved.
"The juvenile justice system doesn't want to hold kids accountable," said Kober. "Then hold the parents accountable because they are responsible for their child — regardless if they want to be or not."
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