Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says State Highway Patrol will provide additional law enforcement personnel to help Cincinnati Police due to concerns about crime in the city.
The announcement comes after videos of a July 26 brawl in downtown Cincinnati went viral, drawing national attention from prominent figures like Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk.
“Ohio essentially has a package of law enforcement support services the state can provide in times when local authorities could use some additional help," DeWine said in a news release. "We've done this in other cities, and it has made a big difference."
OSHP troopers will take on traffic enforcement duties in the city so CPD officers can focus on other crimes. Highway Patrol also has an aviation unit that will be available to help with suspect searches and violent crime reduction efforts, according to the news release.
"Our partnership with the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the use of their Aviation Unit have been instrumental in recent CPD initiatives," CPD Chief Teresa Theetge said in a statement. "I am extremely grateful to Governor DeWine for offering state resources for the safety of our communities."
The fight at Fourth and Elm streets Downtown is still under investigation. Five have been charged in the incident so far.
What happened in the downtown Cincinnati fight
Viral posts on social media first suggested the altercation was a random attack with potential racial motivations, leading to a political firestorm around the incident.
Mayor Aftab Pureval, Chief Theetge, and other local officials have received criticism for their handling of the incident, as well as their reactions after the fact.
But Theetge earlier this week stressed there's more to the incident than those viral posts suggest.
"It just shows one side of the equation without context, without factual context, and then it grows legs and becomes something bigger,” Theetge said during a news conference about the fight. She declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.
In a more complete version of the video, a white man slaps a Black man, after which a group pursues him, knocking him down and kicking and punching him in the street. After the man gets up, a woman confronts one of his assailants and is punched by another woman from behind.
Another man then punches her in the face, knocking her down and potentially rendering her unconscious. A bystander helps her up.
Other snippets of video show earlier events leading up to the beatings. In them, a white man and a Black man are seen squaring up for a fight, with both throwing punches at each other. It's unclear from the video what sparked this initial altercation.
What we know about those involved
Three people were arraigned July 30 in connection with the fight. Hamilton County prosecutors allege Montianez Merriwether and Jermaine Matthews were among those who instigated the altercation, though their defense attorneys say they weren't the initial aggressors.
Matthews's attorney says his client was the man slapped in the beginning of the video and that he had been attempting to break up the fight prior to that. A CPD detective acknowledged that in court and said the department is still investigating the incident. Merriweather's family claims he was spat on and called racial epithets before the incidents shown in the video.
Both are facing charges in Hamilton County Municipal Court for felonious assault and aggravated riot. Matthews was given a $100,000 bond. Merriwether has a $500,000 bond. He was out on bond for previous charges when the July 26 incident occurred.
A third person, Dekyra Vernon, is accused of joining the fight after it spilled into the street and striking the Russian woman. She faces felonious assault and aggravated riot charges and had her bond set at $200,000.
Latest crime statistics
The incident has fed into an ongoing debate about violent crime, both locally and nationally.
Cincinnati has seen increases in some kinds of crime this summer — primarily property crimes. A July 28 report from CPD shows homicides and rapes year to date are down in the Central Business District over the three-year average. But robberies and aggravated assaults are up over that time period and since this time last year.
Citywide, most violent crimes including homicide were down slightly over the three-year average as of July 21, according to the latest CPD citywide STARS report. Shootings are down 25 percent year to date compared to the three-year average of 172.
Homicides were up about 5% over this time last year (40 compared to 38 this time in 2024) and robberies were up 6% in that time frame (360 compared to 339 in 2024).
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