A video posted this past Sunday to the Facebook showed the Saturday night attack on a white man attending a July 4th festival in the Fountain Square area of Cincinnati. The video showed the man being beaten bloody and unconscious by scores of black people in what many described as an unprovoked “race riot” attack on a helpless victim.
The depravity of the attack came into sharper focus as attackers circled the victim to dance and taunt their gravely injured and unconscious prey. The beating followed a hip-hop and electronica Fourth of July concert. Onlookers, who were not involved in the attack, were seen laughing at the victim on the video.
Several other black people apart from the mob attempted to a shield the victim from further attack while waiting for emergency units to respond to 911 call and for law enforcement officers to be flagged down to render assistance.
When police arrived, they came under attack as well.
Using fireworks, rocks, bottles and closed fist attacks that initially overwhelmed police, the mob injured two officers – one who received facial injuries from a broken bottle and a second who needed stitches to the lip to close a wound from a punch to the face.
Seven people were arrested in the melee including three juveniles. According to details on the arrests published in The Cincinnati Enquirer:
“Jy Quynn Britten, 21, punched a peace officer in the face while officers tried to arrest another person, according to court documents. Britten then ran from officers through Fountain Square before being Tased and arrested.”
“As arrests were made, an officer told a bystander operating a camera, “Hey, when you’re shooting that video make sure you get the officer with the busted lip.” “Britten is accused of assault, resisting arrest, and obstructing official business.”
”…Gary Sheffield, 29, was arrested in the 500 block of Walnut Street near Fountain Square for misconduct at an emergency, according to court documents. “Police said Sheffield refused to obey orders and screamed at officers.”
The alleged details of the beating of the victim were told by a police officer in an anonymous online statement reported by the website Cincinnati Vs. Everyone:
…”So then we form into riot formation with helmets on and begin passing out the shields. Honestly, this was the first time I got to partake in this. So we see ahead a scuffle begin and think it’s just a fight.
Well not so much, it was like 40 v. 1. I saw 40 v. 1, it was 40 black youths stomping the crap out of one unlucky male white. He didn’t do anything to deserve this beating except be white. I’m going to skip all the rhetoric and just say don’t we all matter???
This just pissed us all off. Time to rescue or at least try to get these thugs off of him. So we were sent in with shields and arrest team to do a victim rescue. Feel bad for the guy since he nor anyone deserved a beat down like that for no reason…”
The officer ended his statement with a plea for unity:
“I felt like I had to tell the truth and get the word out there from one of the men on the front line. We as an American Society and Cincinnatians need to get our (act) together because these types of interactions are going to increase. I say it again, this stuff is increasing not only here at home but across the country. We need to come together and fight back.”
