NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Union representatives for the Cincinnati Police Department have roundly rejected the city’s mayor, stemming in part from the fallout from the viral July 26 beatdown that reverberated across the nation.
“Tonight, the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 69 unanimously voted no confidence in Mayor Aftab Pureval, citing a series of leadership failures over the past month that have undermined public safety, police operations, and community trust,” the FOP said in a Monday night statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
FOP President Ken Kober decried what the organization feels is a lack of support from the mayor’s office in the release.
CINCINNATI POLICE UNION BLASTS ‘POLITICAL GAMES’ AS LEADERS CALL FOR PROSECUTION OF WHITE MAN IN VIRAL ASSAULT
“This unanimous vote of no confidence is a clear message from our members that Mayor Pureval’s leadership has fallen short in supporting the men and women who protect this city every day,” Cincinnati FOP President Ken Kober said. “From political interference in law enforcement to neglecting the well-being of officers and the community, these failures demand accountability and change.”
The FOP detailed the discussion that led them to the no confidence vote, and said that the mayor does not respond quickly enough to serious situations. Specifically, they referred to the three-day period between the July 26 viral brawl and Aftab’s first response to it.
The brawl occurred early on a Saturday morning, and the mayor remained on vacation in Vancouver until several days later.
CINCINNATI ASSAULT: POLICE CHIEFS RIP LEADERS OVER BAIL LAWS, ‘GAPS IN THE JUDICIAL PROCESS’
According to the release, Aftab also ordered the city solicitor to charge a White victim of the brutal beatdown with a crime, which the FOP said was done “solely to appease racial tensions at the urging of a few community leaders.”
That led to 45-year-old Alex Tchervinski being charged with disorderly conduct. Tchervinski can be seen slapping one of the perpetrators in the viral video, but his lawyer says he was hit in the head 28 times and robbed during the attack, while trying to protect his girlfriend and another friend during the melee.
His attorney says he was also hit “multiple times” before slapping back.
“City Solicitor [Emily] Woerner and the Pureval administration’s blatant political meddling is the most egregious I’ve witnessed in my career,” Kober told Fox News Digital after the charges were announced. “Overruling law enforcement and prosecutors for cheap political points is a disgraceful stain on our city, and those responsible should be utterly ashamed of themselves.”
CINCINNATI MAYOR UNDER FIRE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT AFTER VIRAL BEATING EXPOSES LAX BAIL LAWS
The police union also said that Aftab failed to properly condemn city contractor Iris Roley, who was accused of interfering in a separate police investigation earlier this month, according to WLWT.
Seven alleged attackers have been charged in connection with the violent assault.
Six suspects, Patrick Rosemond, 38, Jermaine Mathews, 39, Montanez Merriweather, 34, DeKyra Vernon, 24, Dominique Kittle, 37, and Aisha Devaughn, 25, are each charged with three counts of alleged felonious assault, three counts of assault and two counts of aggravated rioting.
A seventh suspect in the attack, Gregory Wright, 32, was charged with alleged aggravated riot and aggravated robbery after allegedly snatching a chain off a victim of the brawl.
Separately, Merriweather has been charged at the federal level with being a felon in possession of a firearm, and Mathews has been charged federally with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and operating a premises for the purpose of trafficking narcotics.
Pureval’s office did not immediately return a comment request.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
Read the full article here