FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- A four-minute police body camera video from the Nov. 12 stabbing incident at El Centenario on Dixie Highway shows the chaos and an officer attempting to overcome a language barrier in order to assess the situation and figure out who stabbed one of the five victims.
Fairfield Police released the video footage from the nightclub stabbing after a public records request by the Journal-News. Five people were either stabbed or slashed at around 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 12. Shots were reportedly fired at El Centenario nightclub, 3220 Dixie Highway, but no one was hit with gunfire, according to Fairfield police.
Identities of the injured will be released after witnesses have been interviewed, said Fairfield Police Officer Doug Day. All injured victims were treated at area hospitals, according to police.
In the video, a police officer approaches a vehicle parked in the nightclub's parking lot with four people either inside or beside it. One of the first things the officer tells the people is an ambulance is on the way.
A man is seen sitting in the front passenger's seat of the car with an apparent stab -- a friend in the driver's seat can be heard saying, "His guts are right there," though the wound isn't visible on the video footage released.
The officer was attempting to decipher the extent of the man's injuries, and at one point reported to dispatch that the man was going out of consciousness. The officer then commandeers a man's jacket in order to have another person apply pressure to the wound.
A woman, who only spoke Spanish in the video, told a bilingual friend she saw who did it but didn't know the person.
A couple of the people become agitated with the officer after his response to their questions.
"If you don't find out who did it, what's going to happen to him?" the bilingual man asks.
The officer responds, "We're going to get him help first," and asks the bilingual man if he can ask in Spanish the stab victim or the man applying pressure to his wound if they knew who did it.
After a brief conversation, the bilingual man slams his hand against the car, yelling, "We need an ambulance" and angrily walks away.
Investigators are still interviewing witnesses and will continue to look at any cellphone video anyone may have taken that night, said Fairfield Police Officer Doug Day.
Day said it is believed there were six victims, but only five were stabbed. That sixth person was cut on barbed wire and not injured during the incident, he said.
Any witnesses to the incident are asked to call police at 513-829-8201. Witnesses can also call the Fairfield Police Department Tip Line at 513-896-8200, and tips can be submitted online. Witnesses can remain anonymous.
The Journal-News is a news partner of WCPO.
