Cincinnati police officers form a protective ring around Christopher McKnight after he was beaten unconscious by a mob of Black youths Saturday. Photo via WLWT-TV.
The City of Cincinnati is trying to reassure its citizens and tourists that they will be safe in downtown Cincinnati next week when the All Star Game is played there. The city is reeling from a race riot Saturday night in the tourist area that left a white man bloodied with a concussion, broken nose and facial iinjuries after he was beaten by a mob of young Black men. Two police officers were injured after fireworks, rocks, bottles and punches were thrown at police by a crowd following the end of a hip hop and electronica Fourth of July concert at Fountain Square.
Police and city officials held a press conference Monday afternoon.
Police spokesman Captain Mike Neville said the incident report filed by Officer Alicia Essert that stated the Black mob attack on the white out of town visitor from Indiana 27 year-old Christopher McKnight was an ‘anti-white’ hate crime was just her opinion and not the position of the police department, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“At a Monday afternoon news conference with other police and city leaders, Capt. Mike Neville said the description on the incident report was incorrect.
“The Enquirer obtained the incident report shortly before the 2 p.m. news conference.
“Neville later said that categorizing the assault as a hate crime was the opinion of reporting officer Alicia Essert. She drew that conclusion, Neville said, because McKnight was attacked by a group of people from the “opposite race.”
“It is too early in the investigation to determine that race motivated the assault, Neville said.”
The Enquirer posted a copy of the incident report with some of the personal information of the victim blacked out.
The incident report states McKnight’s occupation is a paver, which might explain why he was in good enough physical condition to not go down without a fight as seen in an earlier video of the attack on him.
WLWT-TV reported the city is cancelling the Hip Hop Saturdays concert series at Fountain Park until the police give the okay for them to be resumed.
A video report by WLWT stated that two of the seven arrested Saturday night during the riot were juveniles already on probation for felony convictions.
“TODAY, THE THE (sic) 21-YEAR-OLD WAS UP ON CHARGES OF ASSAULT AND RESISTING ARREST. SO WERE A 15-YEAR-OLD AND A 17-YEAR-OLD BOTH ON PROBATION FOR PAST FELONIES.”
WLWT reported the mother of one of those arrested said she had seen her son resist arrest before, but that he would not hit an officer.
“(Jy Quynn) Britten’s mother, Yolonda Britten said her son isn’t the kind to punch an officer, “I’m not saying my son is a saint. I’ve seen him resist arrest before, but I’ve never seen him get to the point where he would be violent,” Yolanda Britten said.”
A copy of the video of a crowd of young Black men and women laughing and making fun of McKnight as he was sprawled on the sidewalk bloody and unconscious was pulled from the Web by YouTube Monday morning reported the American Thinker.
YouTube posted a message stating:
“This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy on shocking and disgusting content.”
The Conservative Treehouse made a copy and a href=”http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/07/06/cincinnati-mob-beats-white-male-victim-simply-for-being-white-while-rioting-in-fountain-square-rescued-by-police-media-silent/#more-103340″ target=”_blank”>posted the video on an independent site.
Monday afternoon the original poster of the video on Facebook, QbabyOfTeamQ, told his readers he had been forced by Facebook to take the video down.
“Sorry everyone they had me delete the video..
“Too many reports..”
WCPO-TV reported police think the Black mob attack on McKnight may have been the trigger for the riot.
“Police said the beating of a bystander may have started the uproar on Saturday that led to seven arrests at Fountain Square.”
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley told WKRC-TV Monday at Fountain Square he supports the police and is ‘drawing a line in the sand’ over the assaults on officers Saturday and the murder last month of Officer Sonny Kim.
“There has been an assault on police across the country. We had two officers assassinated in New York City. We had Sonny Kim, in my opinion assassinated– a guy called 911 and started shooting as soon as the cops showed up. And now we have two officers hit over the weekend.
“I’m drawing a line in the sand. We are not putting up with this anymore. And I’m going to encourage our police to be professional but to stand up for law and order and to stand up for this city.”
