A white man who was initially identified by police as a victim in the viral Cincinnati brawl has become the eighth person to be charged over the fight.
The unidentified man, 45, has been charged with disorderly conduct, a fourth degree misdemeanor, for his alleged role in the brawl, which left six people injured last month.
Footage of the wild beatdown, which broke out in the early hours of July 26, shocked the nation. Six people were left severely injured after a large group descended on several people outside a nightclub.
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 group beat the man for nearly a minute as he lay in the middle of the street, appearing to step on his head multiple times.
When the barrage of attacks temporarily stopped, the victim was seen attempting to stand but immediately fell over in apparent disorientation.
A woman, identified as Holly, had attempted to break up the fight before she was knocked unconscious and fell to the floor.
Brutal images show the woman sustained a black eye and a swollen bruised face. But the victim claimed police ‘acted nonchalant’ when they arrived at the scene and did not call for backup or an ambulance.
Holly defended her actions that night, noting that she was the only person who decided to jump in to help the man because it was ‘the right thing to do.’
The man, who is scheduled to appear in court on August 26, is the eighth person to be charged in relation to the brutal fight in downtown Cincinnati’s business district.
The charges brought against him follow criticism from community leader Rev. Damon Lynch who believed the arrests were racially motivated.
‘When I see the mugshots I only see people who look like me,’ Lynch said, according to Fox News.
‘I don’t see the person who re-engaged. And so, until we see all the mugshots, this is still a racial issue.’
Patrick Rosemond, 38, Jermaine Matthews, 39, Montianez Merriweather, 34, Dominique Kittle, 37, DeKyra Vernon, 24, and Aisha Devaughn, 25, were previously all charged with three counts of felonious assault, three counts of assault and two counts of aggravated rioting.
Merriweather is also facing a federal gun charge for illegally owning a weapon as a felon, Fox News reported.
Matthews posted his $250,000 bond immediately after his arrest. Vernon and Devaughn were recently released from jail after a ruling that lowered their bond by over $100,000.
Gregory Wright, 32, was indicted on charges of aggravated riot and felony aggravated robbery for allegedly stealing the victim’s necklace while others beat him.
Cincinnati police are also on the hunt for another suspect in the brawl, and released a photo of the man asking for assistance in identifying him.
The brawl shocked the nation and was criticized by American leaders including Vice President JD Vance.
Vance said the fight was particularly offensive because a woman was ‘sucker punched’ by a ‘grown man.’
‘What I saw, and I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person.
‘It’s disgusting and I hope every single one of those people who engage in violence is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
‘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,’ he added, referencing the woman, Holly.
‘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 a**es in prison.’