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() In the aftermath of a brawl from over the weekend in Cincinnati that went viral, Cory Bowman, Vice President JD Vance’s brother, is calling out the city for its handling of the situation.
“Now, the motivations behind it, I’ll tell you this, everybody wants to divide, everybody wants to say that it’s one side or the other,” Bowman said, appearing on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
“We have to look at the root issue of this, and that’s mismanagement. We have this saying: ‘That’s trickle-down incompetence.’ This incompetence is coming from the top down, and we have to fix it.”
The video appeared to show a brutal brawl in the heart of the city, which has led to five people already being charged and arrests with more coming. One video, which was taken during the fight, shows a man in a white T-shirt being shoved to the ground by two others. He’s then beaten and stomped on for nearly one minute by multiple people in a crowd.
Bowman, who is running for mayor, believes there are two ways the incident can be looked at, and they differ heavily from the national and local perspectives.
“The entire nation saw these images, and obviously, there is shock, there’s disbelief, there’s horror in the reactions of it,” he added.
“But then I’m looking at it from somebody that lives six blocks away from the incident, and the reality of it is, that for the people that live in the downtown area, these images aren’t just shocking, but they’re also a reminder of what we’ve had to go through with rising crime throughout the entire summer.”
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge turned her attention to the bystanders, placing blame on them, and also acknowledging that only one person called 911.
Bowman was defiant that Theetge was lying based on his interviews with people in the area.
“And there’s a lady that was in the area. She lives right in the apartment complex, right where these videos happen,” said Bowman.
“And she told me a story that she was one of the ones that actually called 911 that night. She sent me a screenshot of it, and it was at 3:03 a.m. The police chief said that they only received one call at 3:06 a.m., and I doubt that I’m in contact with the only person that called 911 that night. She also said that the dispatcher was also very rude and dismissive of it.”
Bowman is calling for the removal of the city’s manager, Sheryl Long.
“There’s been a proven track record to where this administration, through the city manager’s office, has proven time and time again that they’re not ready for this task, let alone the crime,” Bowman said.
“There’s been certain initiatives that they pushed that haven’t done anything to help the community.”
To fix the city’s rising crime problem and make streets safer, Bowman feels there is a short-term and long-term solution.
“The short term is you’ve got to be able to find that in the city manager’s office,” he said. “There are major things going on that are not benefiting the city. You’ve got to hold people accountable for what’s going on, for our situation.”