Vice President Vance’s half brother is blaming a Saturday brawl in Cincinnati on local leaders’ shortcomings.
“We have to look at the root issue of this, and that’s mismanagement. We have this saying: ‘That’s trickle-down incompetence.’ This incompetence is coming from the top down, and we have to fix it,” Bowman, who’s running for mayor, said during a Monday appearance on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
Five people have been arrested for their actions during the incident. Video shows a man being stomped in the streets as bystanders watch. A woman can also be seen being punched by a man. When she falls, her head appears to his the street hard.
Bowman lives six blocks away from the incident and said the event symbolizes a rise in the city’s violent crime.
He told Vargas that “there is shock, there’s disbelief, there’s horror in the reactions of it.”
“But then I’m looking at it from somebody that lives six blocks away from the incident, and the reality of it is, that for the people that live in the downtown area, these images aren’t just shocking, but they’re also a reminder of what we’ve had to go through with rising crime throughout the entire summer.”
However, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge said only one person called the police to report the violence. Bowman said he was skeptical of her statements after speaking with a local resident who said she called 911.
“She sent me a screenshot of it, and it was at 3:03 a.m. The police chief said that they only received one call at 3:06 a.m., and I doubt that I’m in contact with the only person that called 911 that night,” Bowman said, referring to the call.
“She also said that the dispatcher was also very rude and dismissive of it,” he added.
Bowman also said city manager Sheryl Long, a woman of color, should be removed from the post, alleging she’s unable to handle the job.
“There’s been a proven track record to where this administration, through the city manager’s office, has proven time and time again that they’re not ready for this task, let alone the crime,” Bowman said.
“There’s been certain initiatives that they pushed that haven’t done anything to help the community.”
The Hill reached out to Long’s office for comment.
