Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said he will push to suspend Cincinnati's federal funding if the city can't get its act together following a viral video of a brawl in the city streets.
Five people have been charged in a bloody, late-night brawl in downtown Cincinnati over the weekend that involved dozens of people and raised concerns about crime in the Ohio city.
A video of the fight early Saturday shows a crowd milling about before several people start throwing punches. One man falls to the ground and was repeatedly punched and kicked by bystanders. Another woman is punched in the face and falls to the ground, lying motionless before another woman helps her. She can be seeing bleeding from the mouth.
The video ended as bystanders could be seen moving her out of the street, according to WLWT.
"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."
Moreno said a line in the sand must be drawn.
"We cannot let our cities be gone forever. We will not let these radicals take our cities," Moreno said.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval condemned the attack.
"It is horrifying to watch, and this unacceptable and disgusting behavior is intolerable in any part of our community," Pureval said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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