Cincinnati Police Chief Terri Theetge calls out social media and journalists for misrepresenting the viral brawl where a group of five thugs have been charged for brutally beating up a man and his wife overnight on Friday. “That social media post, and your coverage of it, distorts the content of what actually happened, and it makes our job more difficult,” she told reporters at a press conference Monday. “Social media-the posts that we’ve seen-does not depict the entire incident. That is one version of what occurred.” “I think what they should be angry about is nobody called the police. Nobody got us there as quickly as we could get there. They waited until they saw it on social media. Now everybody’s concerned about what’s going on.” “To not call the police when you view this. Traffic was horrendous. People saw this-they were fighting in front of traffic. Why didn’t somebody call us?”

Qui sont les plus coupables ? Les gens qui lynchent a plusieurs une seule personne ou bien ceux qui filment sans intervenir tout en commentant?

Ici a Cincinatti, un groupe de voyous a ete filme en train de battre un homme et une femme jusqu’a ce qu’ils perdent connaissance et… pic.twitter.com/1rwFTvv0xh

– Black Bond PTV (@BlackBondPtv) July 27, 2025

CHIEF TERRI THEETGE: For us to have 100 or so people down there-either involved in or watching this event, recording with their cell phones-and for us to get only one phone call about this incident is unacceptable in this city. One person did the right thing and called 911. … Social media and journalism and the role it plays in this incident. And yes, guys, that’s you. That is you. Social media-the posts that we’ve seen-does not depict the entire incident. That is one version of what occurred. At times, social media and mainstream media and their commentaries are misrepresentations of the circumstances surrounding any given event. What that does-it causes us some difficulties in thoroughly investigating the activity and enforcing the law. Because what happens-that social media post, and your coverage of it-distorts the content of what actually happened, and it makes our job more difficult. My absolute gratitude for the investigators who came in on Saturday as soon as this video was posted and rolled their sleeves up and got to work. They have done an amazing amount of work in a short period of time. You made this weekend, outside of this one incident, an amazing success for this city. … REPORTER: We’ve talked to a lot of people. Some are angry that this incident happened. Others, frankly, are scared to go downtown, given the picture that this paints for the area. What message do you have for this? CHIEF: I think what they should be angry about is nobody called the police. Nobody got us there as quickly as we could get there. They waited until they saw it on social media. Now everybody’s concerned about what’s going on. That is-hold on, you asked a question, let me answer-that is unacceptable. To not call the police when you view this. Traffic was horrendous. People saw this-they were fighting in front of traffic. Why didn’t somebody call us? As to the part of your question about people not wanting to go downtown: I will still take my family downtown. I will patronize restaurants downtown. I will go to events downtown. What people need to realize-what adults need to realize-you need to be mindful of your alcohol consumption. A lot of times when we, the police, get involved in incidents like this, it’s because of alcohol. So I will go downtown. I will patronize. I will encourage my family members to go downtown and patronize. What I won’t do is tell them to overconsume alcohol, and I would not encourage them to be downtown when all the bars are letting out at 3 o’clock in the morning. REPORTER: And on the note of social media-it’s been several days since this incident happened. There’s frankly been an information void left in that period. Why are we addressing this now and not earlier? CHIEF: Information void by us-because we were letting the investigators do their job. There are certain things that we intentionally do not want to say publicly until they can get a good foothold on the investigation. To say something too soon is absolutely irresponsible. And I do not want to be a part of that irresponsibility.

Here’s her full statement:
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