The family of one of the Cincinnati brawlers claimed the only reason the fight has garnered so much attention was because the person punched in the face is a white woman.
Jermaine Matthews, 39, was initially charged with aggravated riot and assault after the massive brawl in the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio, went viral this week.
He was hit with three more charges on Thursday, two felonious assault charges and one assault charge.
Outside of court, two relatives of fellow suspect, 34-year-old Montianez Merriweather, told WLWT that the race of the victims had catapulted the case to national attention.
‘If it was an African American woman who got knocked out… We wouldn’t have been going through all this,’ one of the women said.
Another woman, believed to be Merriweather’s mother Clarissa, said her son is an honor roll student with ‘a biracial child’ as she denied he was racist.
‘He’s not a racist,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t like they’re thugs… these Russians was walking down the street and on the video he said “you wanna mess with these Russians?.”‘
Two men and a woman were charged over their involvement as horror images emerged of a female victim with black eyes and a swollen, bruised face.
‘He smacked the first guy… my child is in school, he has five kids, he’s on the B honor roll in school.’
Police have described Merriweather as the ‘catalyst’ for the alleged ‘coordinated attack.’
Dekyra Vernon, 24, has also been charged.
Matthews’ attorney Brandon Fox also indicated there were other racial elements at play during the brawl.
‘That is the victim that is seen running down the street screaming racial slurs, the n word,’ he said, referring to video of the incident.
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, seemingly stepping on his head multiple times.
When the barrage of attacks temporarily stopped, he 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.
Disturbing new images emerged on Thursday showing the severe injuries that woman sustained in the attack.
Republican state Senator Bernie Moreno said in a post on X that the woman, known publicly only as Holly, had given him permission to share the damning pictures of her injuries.
Both sides of her face were extremely bruised following the assault, with her right eye a dark shade of purple and almost closed over due to the swelling.
Her bottom lip was also cut open slightly, with dark bruises seen around her neck and upper torso.
Moreno said: ‘This is Holly. She wanted to have a nice evening out with friends. Instead, she got this. Holly gave me permission to release the photos so that others will never suffer what she did. We need and deserve change.’
Search warrants have been issued for two other unidentified people accused of jumping into the shocking melee.
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?’
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.’
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.’