Cincinnati police chief blames ‘social media’ and ‘journalism’ after brutal mob attack goes viral

The incident has drawn national attention after the brawl broke out on Friday evening, with five people being charged in the incident so far. Theetge, however, downplayed the brawl, and said, “We had one incident – one incident – late Friday night into Saturday morning that is getting all the attention and undoing the good stuff that happened this weekend." She then blamed parents for the behavior coming from juveniles in the city.

During her comments at the press conference, she went on to become angry at social media users and journalists for posting the video that went viral. “Another topic I want to cover real quick, social media and journalism and the role it plays in this incident. And yes guys, that’s you. That is you. Social media, the post that we’ve seen does not depict the entire incident."

"That is one version of what occurred. At times, social media and mainstream media and their commentaries are a misrepresentation of the circumstances surrounding any given event. What that does, that causes us some difficulties in thoroughly investigating the activity and enforcing the law. Because what happens, that social media post and your coverage of it distorts the content of what actually happened and it makes our job more difficult," she added, but did not elaborate on what the other version of events was.

She added that the incident "was a sudden dispute between individuals following a verbal altercation," but was not connected to the Cincinnati Music Festival happening at the same time. She also said that alcohol played a "significant part" in the situation.

When asked by reporters if Theetge knew if the victims had gone to the hospital from the fight, she answered, "I don’t know if they went to the hospital after. I know that when the officers who arrived on the scene, based on the body cam footage that I have watched, that all of the victims were still on the scene, and, they appeared to be as well as could possibly be expected.”

In the footage, a man can be seen being thrown to the ground and kicked repeatedly in the head and face by a mob. When the woman then tried to intervene, she was attacked by multiple people before getting punched in the face and dropped to the ground out cold with blood running from her mouth.