Cincinnati Authorities Under Fire Following Viral Downtown Beating

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() After videos of a Cincinnati beating went viral, three suspects made their first court appearance, and city officials are facing pressure to increase security in the downtown area on weekends.

The first photographs have also been released of one of the victims. Shared by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, he said she has allowed him to share the aftermath of the attack. 

Holly, a single mother, was having an evening out with friends before the brawl. The FBI is now involved in the investigation, confirmed.

“The FBI has been and will continue to closely coordinate with the Cincinnati Police Department on this matter,” the agency said in a statement.

So far, five people have been charged with assault and aggravated riot, but only three have been arrested. The other two remain at large.

Detectives called it a coordinated attack. A man seen in some of the videos knocking out the female victim is still on the loose. 

One of the people who allegedly punched the woman is Dekyra Vernon. 

“Video shows that Miss Vernon is a bystander, watching a brawl in the street. She comes back to the sidewalk, picks a couple of things up off the ground that fell out of her purse, walks back around to our victim, punches her,” said Detective Barney Blank in court. “That’s the still I showed you, it’s actually her leaning over, punches her in the face as one of the other co-defendants is seen knocking her out.”

At the same time, scrutiny of city leaders is growing. The mayor joined a community meeting via Zoom from his vacation to sneers in the room.

City Council Member Victoria Parks sparked outrage with a social media post where she wrote, “They begged for that beat down.” 

The chief of police herself laid blame in part on the media for the portrayal of the beating.

Cincinnati residents are questioning how the whole thing happened.

“It could have been prevented. If you would have had the drones out, they would have been able to capture them much quicker versus relying on tourists and citizens of Cincinnati to call to let you know what’s going on,” said City Council candidate Linda Matthews. “You should already know what’s going on, and that’s a failure on our police chief in the planning.”

City Council candidate Steve Goodin echoed the sentiment, criticizing Chief Teresa Theetge. 

“She has lost the confidence of the city, she has lost the confidence of the business community, she has lost the confidence of the rank and file, and she should step down and be replaced by an interim chief until a new council comes in,” Goodin said.

In addition, Moreno is calling for all federal agencies to consider withholding funding to the city in the wake of the incident.

“The local officials, from the top down, have completely abdicated the responsibility,” he told . “So what I said is put a plan together in the next 30 days where you can assure your people, your constituents, that you have a plan to defend their civil rights. [If you fail] to put that plan together, I will call for all federal agencies to suspend all federal funding to Cincinnati until that plan is developed.”

All three of the suspects who have been arrested are being detained, and a grand jury proceeding is set for Aug. 8.