CINCINNATI — The area of W Fourth Street and Elm Street was seen in videos going viral, depicting a man being kicked and stomped by a large group. Later, a woman was punched and appeared to have been knocked unconscious for multiple seconds.
WCPO 9 first reported on the videos Saturday. The station has not yet been permitted to air the videos. The Facebook video and several other social media posts have had embedding or sharing removed.
I reached out to the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) on Sunday, requesting any updates or information on whether any arrests have been made.
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge released a statement Saturday on the video.
Sunday afternoon, I went down to Fourth Street and met with Cincinnati Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney, along with two business owners and the manager of BBQ Chicken.
Watch: Hear what Downtown business owners have to say about the violent incident circulating on social media
Vice Mayor Kearney spoke about how this past weekend is a celebration in Cincinnati, with the annual musical festival, and was disappointed by what was seen online.
"At 3 a.m., you hear about some adults out here fighting. You know, we talk to our teens about not fighting and how to get along, how to de-escalate. And then you have adults out here just showing bad behavior," Kearney said.
Kearney added that what happened is not what the city is all about.
"This is not who we are, this is not the norm," the vice mayor said.
Kearney informed me that CPD is hard at work figuring out what happened.
"I can assure you, we're going to get to the bottom of it, we're going to find out who's responsible and take action," Kearney said.
I then spoke with Orlando Chapman and Ricardo Grant, the owners of 'Something to Wine About' and LoVe on Fourth. The two businesses are next-door neighbors on Fourth Street.
The two local entrepreneurs said they found out about what happened near their businesses well after Saturday morning's incident. Both expressed that, as disappointing and upsetting as the video was, they're working to build an inviting spot Downtown.
"That's like something that's isolated, that's exactly what this business is not about, what our businesses are about. We work, definitely as a collective, to make sure you have a safe environment," Chapman said.
"I immediately sort of understood the negative effect that it probably could have on this new district that we are creating," Grant said. "Wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to let people know that this is a really good place down here," he continued.
The two business owners spoke about the collaboration among the shops and restaurants around the street.
"We're together in this, and making sure that we can share these wonderful experiences," Chapman said.
"The positivity wrapped around what we're creating here is at an all-time high and I'm so glad to be a part of it," Grant said.
As of the time of writing it is still unknown as to what led up to the fight seen in the viral video. Kearney said CPD may have an update on Monday regarding the incident.
