Following a viral video showing several individuals being brutally beaten in a brawl in downtown Cincinnati, GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is decrying an "anti-law enforcement culture" and "people being desensitized to this kind of violence." (REUTERS/Brian Snyder; X/@Anthea06274890)
"One of the reasons I wanted to reach out was just to see if we could help… but also to hear her perspective on the front lines of what she wants to see come out of this," he explained. "The fact of the matter is she, and victims like her, want to make sure that violent crime like this doesn't spread, that we're able to use what was a tragedy, and it was a travesty what happened in Cincinnati, to be able to adopt policies that actually stop this reckless crime in our cities, stop the wave of violent crime in cities."
Another angle of the fight shows a victim being beaten in the middle of the street and yelling racial slurs. Some claim the male victim slapped one of the perpetrators before the fight, sparking the beatdown.
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said in a press conference that there are a total of six victims. Six people have been charged with crimes, and four have been arrested. The city's fugitive task force is searching for the two suspects who are still at large. Theetge said that out of the approximately 100 people who witnessed the incident or were involved in the brawl, only one individual called law enforcement.
Jermaine Matthews, 39, Dominique Kittle, 37, Montianez Merriweather, 34, and Dekyra Vernon, 24, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the fight.
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The intersection of Fourth and Elm streets in downtown Cincinnati, near the nightclub where the mob beating took place. (Peter D'Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
"I think there are deeper issues relating to just people being agnostic to the rule of the law, people being desensitized to this kind of violence," he went on, adding, "At our best as human beings, that's not who we are. We feel compassion when something like this happens. Ignoring it is not compassion. Ignoring is cruelty."
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He called for more "open dialogue" rather than "sweeping these issues under the rug."
He said that some have criticized him for calling attention to the beating, saying "some of them make it seem like the bigger crime than the assault was actually noticing it."
"I don't think that's the case. I think that actually the way we're going to bring people together is through what we're doing tonight. Open dialogue, open discussion," he explained.
Fox News Digital's Julia Bonavita, Peter D'Abrosca and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/exclusive-ramaswamy-decries-anti-law-enforcement-culture-wake-brutal-cincinnati-beating