David Winner reports on bond hearings for Montianez Meriwether, DeKyra Vernon, and Jermaine Matthews following a viral Cincinnati Jazz Festival brawl. While Matthews claims provocation by racial slurs, prosecutors face scrutiny over alleged racial profiling as bond amounts reach $500,000 for Meriwether. With a grand jury scheduled for August 8th and one Russian victim already departed, the case highlights intense debates regarding judicial fairness and police presence at the festival. Ultimately, the segment underscores how viral incidents rapidly expose deep-seated tensions within the American legal system. [Automatically generated summary]
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Viral Fight Leads to Jail00:07:59
Three people are now in jail on charges related to the brawl that happened early Saturday morning on 4th Street in downtown Cincinnati.
Montianez Meriwether, DeKyra Vernon, and Jermaine Matthews are the first three charged in connection to that fight, the video of which went viral.
Local 12's David Winner was at their bond hearings today.
He joins us now with new details about the fight that has received national attention.
David.
Yeah, it sure has, Kyle.
All three of those suspects behind me right now in jail.
Two of them were arrested by police yesterday.
The third turned himself in overnight.
Jermaine Matthews is the man who turned himself in overnight.
He's 39 years old from Walnut Hills.
He's allegedly the man in the red shirt in the video punching and stomping a man.
Matthews' attorney says he was involved in the fight because the man police refer to as the victim kicked Matthew's car and called him a racial slur.
I knew that was coming.
Yeah, I knew that was completely.
I knew the race car was coming.
So pretty much that black dude, that black dude in the red shirt, if someone kicked your car and called you the N-word, that justified you jumping them with multiple other people.
Even though the guy's running backwards.
That is sub-Saharan logic.
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Right?
Because the man police refer to as the victim kicked Matthew's car and called him a racial slur.
I see the same individual kicking his business vehicle.
He confronts the guy and said, what are you doing?
That sounds like something a black guy would say, what are you doing?
I totally don't believe that.
That doesn't even sound believable.
What are you doing?
That's when, and this clip does exist on social media.
It doesn't paint the whole picture.
This white individual reaches over, says that's your car, and slaps my client in the face.
That you believe that?
So he kicked his car, called him an N-word, then he slaps him in.
He says, what are you doing?
The white guy then slaps him in the face.
Yeah, that's totally believable.
They're arguing, man.
Yeah.
Curtson, the alleged victim in this case, threw the first punch.
DeKyra Vernon is 24 years old and lives with her mother in Evanston.
Her record up till now, only included traffic.
DeKyra Vernon is 24 years old and lives with her mother in Evanston.
For record up till now, only included traffic tickets.
You can see her in the video, allegedly with the long curly hair, attempting to hit one woman and then allegedly later hitting another woman from behind.
That woman eventually gets knocked out.
The woman that was injured and knocked out, she was trying to render aid to another victim.
She was.
At the time.
She was rendering aid to another victim that was on the ground trying to get him back to his feet.
He's actually trying to get his pants back on because they beat his pants off of him.
And while she's rendering aid to that gentleman there, that's when Ms. Vernon comes up and strikes her in the face.
There's for no reason at all.
34-year-old Montianez Merriweather is from South Cumminsville.
He served seven years in prison for armed robbery and was out on bond for four felony gun charges when the fight occurred.
What?
He went to prison for armed robbery?
Yeah.
He's out on bail for how many felonies?
For four gun charges or something like that?
He shouldn't have been out on the street.
Yeah, that's this myth that us people, black people, African Americans, we get a tough time in the judicial system.
Yeah, that's a that's that's just a blatant lie.
Yeah, I think we get preferential treatment.
He shouldn't have never been on the streets.
Yeah, this yeah, he shouldn't have never been a part of this crime if the judicial system was fair because I know if a white man does that, he's still locked up.
He's probably gonna be saving life.
Yeah, hey, um, I bet you he was the I bet you he the ringleader.
He got the most street cred.
Yeah, yeah, he's the ringleader.
Yeah, he got all the juice.
We have Mr. Meriwether coming up behind the victim, striking him in the side of the face from behind.
He started all of this.
That's not even.
But the other guy is the one that was called the right, right, right.
See, that's not even a fair fight.
Two-on-one?
Yeah.
None of this is making sense.
This wasn't a fight.
Man, he got jumped.
Yeah.
That man got jumped.
Yeah, but he wasn't called the supposedly the N-word.
But even if he was called the N-word, it doesn't justify this behavior.
Yeah, if someone calls you the N-word and you strike that person, you're pretty much verifying that you are an N-word.
Yeah.
It's just a word.
Why are you giving these people all that power?
Yeah, in this day and age, that word has no power over you unless you give it the power.
And y'all gave it all the power.
And look how y'all acted.
But personally, I don't even think he said that.
The guy went to a jazz festival.
Yeah.
That's a lot of black people.
He's surrounded by, you know, African Americans.
Yeah.
And he calls one African American the N-word, kicks his car.
The African American responds, what are you doing?
And then he slaps him in the face.
Yeah.
I've never seen a white man behave that way.
So you would call this like a surprise?
So this is more of a cock and ambush.
We spoke with Meriwether's cousins after the hearing.
They say the prosecution is distorting the facts and their cousin is not a bad guy.
That is insane.
It's all on video.
Hey, man.
Gaslighting at its finest.
Let's see what they got to say.
Let's stop jumping to conclusions because we have a prejudice.
Yeah.
Let's give him a first shot.
Yeah, I am prejudiced.
Facts, and their cousin is not a bad guy.
He's a wonderful guy.
He did his time, as they said it, but since he did his time, he has changed his life completely.
Everything they're trying to point him out to be a thug, that is not his.
Yeah, I got to tell you, I saw him in the video and he was pretty violent.
He was, but you'll be violent if somebody spit on you as well.
You'll be violent if somebody cuts.
Now she's saying he's spitting on.
So let's get the story straight.
He kicks the African American's car.
Yeah.
Calls him the N-word.
Black guy responds, what are you doing?
He slaps the African American, spits on him, and then spits him after going to a jazz festival.
Yeah.
Where you're surrounded by these people.
This white dude is an animal.
How's your racial slayer?
Merryweather's cousins say that they want to know why police have not arrested and charged the man who they are calling the victim.
After all, police in court today admitted that he threw that first punch.
Now, the prosecutor intimated in court that those charges may soon be coming.
Incidentally, Matthews is currently charged with assault and aggravated riot.
His bond is set at $100,000, but will go up tomorrow, likely, when police add aggravated assault to his charges.
Vernon, the female defendant, got a $200,000 bond.
She and Merriweather already have all three charges filed against them.
Meriwether got a $500,000 bond.
The prosecutor plans to present his case to the grand jury on August 8th.
Incidentally, that woman who was knocked out, dropped to the ground, she apparently is from Russia, and police say that she has now returned to Russia, caught a flight on Sunday.
Police Admit Wrong Policing00:01:43
Wow.
So she was a visitor.
She might have been.
Look at these faces.
Who you believe?
All three of them look crazy.
That blonde wig is diabolical.
Yeah, look at him.
Look, it matches a jumpsuit.
Yeah, look at this dude.
He's like, I knows I done wrong, Mouse.
I won't do it no more.
That's the guy that went to prison for armed robbery?
No, him.
Okay, he went to jail armed robbery.
Man, she just had traffic tickets.
The dude in the center?
Yeah, some kind of camera.
Yeah.
If Cincinnati, if in this area of the country had took a tough approach on crime, this wouldn't have happened.
The way they was policing that area that night was totally wrong, too.
They had a couple of police officers there in their police cars.
Where's the police officers on foot walking the beat?
There's so many people down there.
Being a deterrent.
Yeah.
I mean, just from, I mean, it's all kinds of wrong on either side.
The police, the way they was policing and the way their judicial system runs, that guy should have never been on the street.
Yeah.
There's a term that Joe Biden used, super predator.
A lot of people use that against him to label him like Hillary used to say it too.
Racist, there are such thing as super predators on our streets.
They really are.
They're just looking for an opportunity.
They're like opportunities.
They're like opportunists.
As soon as you disrespect them, they just let loose and do the worst things imaginable to people.
Yeah, I'm thinking that white guy, if he threw the first punch, I'm pretty sure it was self-defense.