Latest news with #AftabPureval
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
In wake of viral fight, mayoral candidate Bowman calls for city manager removal
This story has been updated with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval's comments. Cincinnati mayoral candidate Cory Bowman, the half brother of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, is calling for the removal of Cincinnati's city manager in response to the viral video fight over the weekend. In a press release, Bowman called for "the immediate resignation or removal of City Manager Sheryl Long." "Over nearly three years, the city manager has failed time and time again to meet the demands of this pivotal role," Bowman said in the release. The Enquirer is seeking a response from the city manager's and mayor's offices about Bowman's statement. Pureval July 28 issued a statement denouncing the "horrifying" incident at the corner of Fourth and Elm streets during the evening of Friday, July 25 and saying that arrests were "forthcoming." Bowman lists what he calls Long's 'shortcomings' Bowman listed what he called the city manager's "shortcomings" since Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval appointed her Sept. 1, 2022. They include: Terminating Fire Chief Michael Washington in March 2023, resulting in a federal civil lawsuit against the city. Appointing a "controversial" assistant city manager Natasha Hampton, who resigned 15 months later. Implementing "ineffective crime-reduction" measures that have "deepened the divide between the community and law enforcement." Failing to improve city infrastructure and correct "mismanagement" of the Emergency Communications Center operations. City officials offering 'empty statement' on weekend crime Commenting on the fight, Bowman said "our city and nation witnessed horrific videos and images of violence on the streets of Cincinnati." He said the images sparked "shock and disbelief" and serve as a reminder of the "ongoing crime and lawlessness we've had to endure this summer." In response, Bowman said, elected officials have remained silent or "offered empty statements." Bowman, a Republican, won about 13% of the vote in the May 6 primary. Pureval, a Democrat, won more than 82% of the vote. With just the top two finishers advancing, third-place finisher Brian Frank, a Republican, was eliminated. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why does Bowman want city manager removed? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
5 suspects charged, 1 911 call from crowd. What we know about the viral Cincinnati fight
Police have identified five suspects from a violent fight with a crowd of "100 or so people." Videos of the fight have made rounds online and sparked outrage from leaders nationwide. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge did not disclose the charges or names of the suspects, who are not in custody, during an afternoon press conference July 28, but said anyone involved who caused harm to another person will "face consequences." Multiple videos of the 3 a.m. fight Downtown on July 26 circulated on social media over the weekend, raising concerns about safety amid the city's recent push to reduce crime in its urban core. In one of the videos, a group of people is seen striking a man until he falls to the ground as they continue to punch and kick him. Shortly after, another man is seen punching a woman in the face, causing her to fall to the ground, where she remained motionless until a person helped pick her back up. The fight has become the subject of outcry by people such as Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. Politics, race and crime: Why a fight in Cincinnati went viral on social media City leaders are expected to discuss public safety concerns Downtown during a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 29, at the main branch of the Cincinnati Public Library. City Manager Sheryl Long, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge and 3CDC President and CEO Steve Leeper plan to attend. Here's what we know. When and where did the fight happen? The fight broke out around 3 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, near Fourth and Elm streets in downtown Cincinnati, Theetge said. The chief said police only received one 911 call about the fight at 3:06 a.m. Two officers who were stuck in gridlock traffic, she said, responded six minutes later at 3:12 a.m. When officers arrived, the fight had broken up and the majority of people were gone. The chief defended officers' response time to the incident, noting that traffic was congested due to what she said was more than 150,000 people in the area that day to attend the Cincinnati Music Festival, a Reds baseball game and the Big3 basketball game. Has anyone been arrested after the fight Downtown? No arrests have been made as of Monday evening, police said, but five people have been charged in connection with the fight. Theetge advised those people involved to turn themselves in as investigators continue to identify people in videos of the fight. "Anyone who put their hands on another individual during this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences," Theetge said. "I don't care which side of the incident or the fight they were on." More: Cincinnati police chief says 5 were charged in Downtown fight shown in viral videos She declined to identify them or their charges publicly, citing the ongoing effort to locate them. Police anticipate more people will be charged. What led up to the fight Downtown? Police have not provided any additional details on what led up to the fight. Theetge previously said the fight was not connected to the Cincinnati Music Festival that took place from Thursday to Saturday. "This was a sudden dispute between individuals following a verbal altercation," Theetge said in her July 26 statement. The "verbal altercation" can be seen at the beginning of one of the videos shared on Facebook. On Tuesday, July 29: Downtown residents host meeting with city leaders to talk crime What have officials said about the Downtown fight? Local officials and national figures have weighed in on the fight, which has gone viral online: Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said he is "confident that arrests are forthcoming" and that he is "outraged by the vicious fight that occurred Downtown." Vice President JD Vance said a large fight in Cincinnati that went viral on social media is proof of "way too much lawlessness" in American cities. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, retweeted a post on X from Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno and said, "Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans." Dhillon said that the division will monitor how local authorities handle this incident. Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said in a statement to The Enquirer that she will prosecute the attackers "to the fullest extent of the law." Elon Musk retweeted a video of the fight and said, "That guy almost killed this woman. Aggravated assault." Cincinnati mayoral candidate Cory Bowman, the half-brother of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, called for "the immediate resignation or removal of City Manager Sheryl Long." What we don't know It is not known what led up to the fight. Theetge did not provide additional details during a news conference Monday, saying that body camera footage from officers who arrived showed the crowd had mostly dispersed by that point. Police have not said exactly how many people were injured or the extent of their injuries. Theetge said she did not know whether anyone went to the hospital afterward, but all victims were still on the scene when officers arrived and appeared to be "as well as could possibly be expected." Reporters Cameron Knight and Quinlan Bentley contributed This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati fight video leads 5 suspects to be identified by police Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Safe places': Cincinnati city leaders considering 'curfew centers' to fight youth crime
Cincinnati City Council in August will consider stricter enforcement of the city's curfew for youth as a way to respond to concerns about crime in the city. As part of that enforcement, the city may create "curfew centers" where the city could take minors who are out too late. They would stay there until their parents could come and get them. Mayor Aftab Pureval on July 23 called city council members back from their summer recess for a two-and-a-half-hour special meeting to talk about the curfew and other measures to address crime. The curfew is not about arresting children, council members stressed throughout the lengthy meeting. "What we want to tell the public, we're not trying to arrest as many kids as we can," said Councilwoman Victoria Parks. "We want to keep them safe. We don't want them out at 3 o'clock when someone might just shoot at them.' What we know about the curfew proposal Details on exactly how the city would change the curfew ordinance, where these curfew centers would be and who would operate them were not released at the special meeting. City Manager Sheryl Long said they're still working on a formal proposal the administration will present to council in August. Cincinnati Public School students return to school on Aug. 20. The city already has a curfew for people under 16 after 10 p.m. and after midnight for ages 16 to 18, meaning that youth cannot be unaccompanied in public after those hours. Long said they're looking at ways to make the curfew easier to enforce. The proposed curfew centers wouldn't be at recreation centers, Long said, since she doesn't want children to have a negative association with them. Long said the goal is to have a safe haven for youth that police encounter after the current curfew. She said she has some organizations in mind for the city to partner with to staff the curfew centers but didn't want to reveal them at the meeting. "Our goal is to get these kids in safe places," Long said. "That is what the overall goal is of the curfew." Will the curfew be enforced fairly? City council peppered Long and Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge with questions on the curfew and how to address crime. When asked whether children in violation of the curfew would be charged with a crime, Long said she didn't have the answer to that yet and is working with the legal department. Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney said when the curfew has been enforced in the past, residents have complained that it hasn't been enforced evenly in all neighborhoods. "If we do it, we'll have to do it consistently and fairly across all neighborhoods," she said. Enquirer review found few curfew charges Enforcing the current curfew is difficult, city officials have said. An Enquirer review of 25 years of curfew violations in Hamilton County, including Cincinnati, has found that there has been a steady decline in the number of youth referred to the juvenile court for curfew violations since 2000. The number of juveniles referred to juvenile court peaked in 2000 with 619 violations and has steadily declined ever since. In 2024, there were 79 juveniles cited for curfew violations across the county. Will the curfew work? The police chief said they're compiling neighborhood data on crime committed by the youth. She didn't have any specific numbers to present on July 23. "There are some specific neighborhoods in our city where the youth disorder is occurring after current curfew hours," Theetge said during the meeting. She said they're also looking to other cities, including Tulsa and Indianapolis, on how they enforce their curfews. At the end of the meeting, city council unanimously passed an ordinance directing the administration to look at enforcement of the curfew and increasing police visibility. "To put it simply, this motion is trying to save kids, period," Pureval said. "And the curfew is an important tool in trying to do that." More: City Council will discuss curfew enforcement, other restrictions for youth to deter crime This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati city leaders weigh 'curfew centers' for youth out late
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cincinnati mayor Aftab Pureval: 'Arrests are forthcoming' in viral fight video
Arrests are forthcoming in the violent fight in Downtown Cincinnati on the night of July 25, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in a press release. "I am out outraged by the vicious fight that occurred Downtown," Pureval said in the statement. "It is horrifying to watch, and this unacceptable and disgusting behavior is intolerable in any part of our community." Pureval said he has been in "consistent communication" with Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge since a crowd erupted in violence at the corner of the Fourth and Elm streets late on July 25. "Our police have been working around the clock to investigate and bring perpetrators of violence to justice," he said. Based on their investigation, he added, "I am confident that arrests are forthcoming." Pureval said city officials do not believe the fight was connected to the Cincinnati Music Fest, Reds games, the Big3 tournament or any of the large events that night. Pureval did not immediately respond to a call from Cory Bowman, his opponent in this fall's mayoral race, to remove Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long from her position. This story was republished to add a video. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Any arrests in downtown Cincinnati fight video Solve the daily Crossword
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Five charged after video of ‘vicious' Cincinnati fight goes viral
Five people have been charged following a violent late-night brawl in downtown Cincinnati over the weekend, an incident that involved dozens of people and has reignited concerns about public safety in the Ohio city. Footage of the altercation, which unfolded early Saturday, depicts a large crowd before punches begin to fly. One man is seen falling to the ground, subjected to repeated punches and kicks from bystanders. In another distressing moment, a woman is struck in the face, collapsing motionless before being aided by another woman. She is visibly bleeding from the mouth. 'I am outraged by the vicious fight that occurred downtown,' Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in a statement. 'It is horrifying to watch, and this is unacceptable and disgusting behavior is intolerable in any part of our community.' The video of the brawl quickly turned political. Vice President JD Vance 's half brother Cory Bowman, who is running to be Cincinnati's mayor, flagged the fight on social media on Saturday and blamed city leadership for creating an unsafe environment. 'For many, these images sparked shock and disbelief,' he said in a statement. 'For residents within our city limits, they serve as a stark reminder of the ongoing crime and lawlessness we've had to endure this summer.' Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at U.S. Justice Department, posted on X above an image of the video that 'EVERY American ���� is entitled to the equal protection of our laws. Federal law enforcement is on it and we will ensure that justice is done.' The videos also became a flashpoint among conservatives online, despite a lack of available details about the incident. Political influencers pointed to it as an example of apparent Black-on-white violence and criticized media coverage of the fight. 'Why zero stories?' billionaire X owner Elon Musk wrote on his social platform on Sunday. Grok, Musk's AI chatbot, fanned the flames, claiming in an X post the same day that the 'media blackout' of the story was 'telling.' Three days after the brawl, the city has released little information about it other than to say it was not related to a Cincinnati Reds game, a basketball tournament or a jazz festival that attracted over 150,000 people to the city. It said five people have been charged in the brawl but only two had been arrested as of Tuesday. Police Chief Teresa Theetge said more people would be charged, warning that anyone who 'put their hands on another individual during this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences." She also suggested some bar owners may be culpable for over-serving participants in the confrontation, which occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday. Theetge appeared on the defensive during the news conference, complaining the brawl was getting all the attention and 'undoing all the good stuff that happened this weekend.' She also complained that bystanders took many videos but that only one person called 911. Police responded to the scene after the fight was over, about six minutes after the call. 'For us to get one phone call about this incident is unacceptable in this city,' she said.
