Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) on Friday threatened to pull federal funding from Cincinnati after the fallout following a viral video of a 3 a.m. brawl in the streets of the city.
The altercation, which occurred Saturday, resulted in serious injuries for one woman after a physical fight between two men spiraled into a larger conflict as others jumped in.
Five people have been charged in connection to the brawl but only two have been arrested as of Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
Moreno is blaming local leaders for not responding to the incident swiftly, although police said only one person called 911 to report the violence.
“I’m going to go down there next week. I’m going to deliver them a letter. They’re going to have 30 days to put together a plan to protect the civil rights of all their citizens, regardless of their race,” Moreno said during an interview on “The Benny Show.”
“And if they don’t do that, I’m going to ask all the federal agencies to suspend federal funding of Cincinnati, which would kill me. Because Cincinnati is a great city. I want to help Cincinnati,” he added.
His criticism for local leadership follows harsh comments from Vice President Vance’s half brother, Cory Bowman, who is running for mayor of the city. Bowman slammed City Manager Sheryl Long, a woman of color, for the fight and said she should be removed from her post in response to the lack of action.
“We have to draw a line in the sand, Benny. We cannot let our cities be gone forever. We will not let these radicals take our cities,” Moreno said.
However, some Cincinnati officials shared a vastly different response to the physical altercation.
Cincinnati City Council President Pro Tem Victoria Parks commented on a Facebook video of the fight, saying “They begged for that beat down! I am grateful for the whole story,” according to WLWT.
Mayor Aftab Pureval and others have condemned Parks’s comments.
“I disagree with Victoria Parks’ comments. No one deserves to be a victim of violent crime,” Pureval said per the outlet.
“I am outraged by the vicious fight that occurred downtown,” he said in a separate statement, per AP. “It is horrifying to watch, and this is unacceptable and disgusting behavior is intolerable in any part of our community.”
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