Three arrested over Cincinnati mass brawl that sparked widespread fury...and one of them was out on bond at the time

Daily Mail​

20 hours ago

Cincinnati cops have arrested three people in connection with a savage mass brawl that left two injured over the weekend.
Jermaine Matthews, 39, Montianez Merriweather, 34, and Dekyra Vernon, 24, were taken into custody this week after a couple were violently set upon in the downtown area of the Ohio city on Saturday.
Search warrants have also been issued for two other unidentified people accused of jumping into the shocking melee.
Footage of the altercation swept social media as the couple were seen being beaten on the street near the LoVe nightclub as a crowd gathered.
Cincinnati Chief of Police Teresa Theetge said during a press conference on Monday that around 100 people descended on the brawl, but only one called 911.
'That is unacceptable to not call the police,' she said. 'Traffic was horrendous. People saw this. They were fighting in front of traffic. Why didn't people call us?'
Matthews was charged with aggravated riot and assault, however charges against the other individuals are not immediately clear.
Daily Mail has contacted Cincinnati Police Department for more information on the charges, with Theetge adding that other arrests may come as cops continue investigating the clash.
Theetge added in her press conference that anyone involved in the fight should turn themselves in, and warned that more charges may follow.
'Anyone who put their hands on another individual during this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences,' she said.
'I don't care which side of the incident or the fight they were on.'
In shocking footage of the fight, a man in a white t-shirt was shoved to the ground and beaten by two men as other members of the crowd jeered and joined in.
The gang beat the man for nearly a minute as he lay in the middle of the street, with the attackers appearing to step on his head multiple times.
When the barrage temporarily stopped, the man was seen attempting to stand - but immediately fell over in apparent disorientation. One attacker yelled out 'my man's drunk'.
A woman in a black dress rushed to his aid, but was attacked by the crowd, suffering two blows to the face.
The impact caused her to fall, with her head slamming onto the pavement. Blood spewed from her mouth.
The footage quickly gained traction among conservatives on social media, with a number of leading Republicans condemning the violence this week.
The couple that were seen being attacked by the mob have not been named, although Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had identified the woman in the clip as 'Holly.'
He said on social media: 'I spoke to Holly earlier today (the woman tragically assaulted in Cincinnati this weekend).
'She's a single working mom who went to a friend's birthday party. It's unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital.'
Vice President JD Vance waded in on the clip captured in his home state on Monday, saying anybody involved should be thrown in prison.
He said: 'I don't know the full context, but the one part that I saw that was really gruesome is you had a grown man who sucker punched a middle-age woman.
'That person ought to go to jail for a very long time - and frankly, he's lucky there weren't some better people around because they would've handled it themselves.
'We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children, the only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engage in that violence and throw their asses in prison.'
Elon Musk also took to his social media to question what he suggested was a lack of response to the incident.
'Why zero stories?' the Tesla CEO asked Sunday, retweeting a post from the End Wokeness X account alleging that the attack wasn't being covered by news outlets.
End Wokeness posted a tweet early Sunday afternoon claiming CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox News, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, had failed to cover the attack.
By late Sunday evening the terrifying assault had been covered by several local and national media outlets, including the Daily Mail and Fox News.