Hodgetwins - Family of Cincinnati Jazz Festival brawl suspects Speaks Out!
Aired: 2025-08-01
Duration: 09:43


=== Viral Fight Leads to Jail (07:59) ===

[00:00:00]  Three people are now in jail on charges related to the brawl that happened early Saturday morning on 4th Street in downtown Cincinnati.
[00:00:07]  Montianez Meriwether, DeKyra Vernon, and Jermaine Matthews are the first three charged in connection to that fight, the video of which went viral.
[00:00:15]  Local 12's David Winner was at their bond hearings today.
[00:00:19]  He joins us now with new details about the fight that has received national attention.
[00:00:23]  David.
[00:00:25]  Yeah, it sure has, Kyle.
[00:00:26]  All three of those suspects behind me right now in jail.
[00:00:30]  Two of them were arrested by police yesterday.
[00:00:32]  The third turned himself in overnight.
[00:00:35]  Jermaine Matthews is the man who turned himself in overnight.
[00:00:39]  He's 39 years old from Walnut Hills.
[00:00:41]  He's allegedly the man in the red shirt in the video punching and stomping a man.
[00:00:46]  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.
[00:00:55]  I knew that was coming.
[00:00:57]  Yeah, I knew that was completely.
[00:00:59]  I knew the race car was coming.
[00:01:00]  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.
[00:01:09]  Even though the guy's running backwards.
[00:01:12]  That is sub-Saharan logic.
[00:01:15]  Yeah, I got a new show for y'all.
[00:01:16]  Got a damn good show.
[00:01:17]  Before we get today's video, don't forget about our new giveaway, Ford 250 King Ranch in a camper and 10 granny cash.
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[00:01:31]  Right?
[00:01:31]  Because the man police refer to as the victim kicked Matthew's car and called him a racial slur.
[00:01:37]  I see the same individual kicking his business vehicle.
[00:01:42]  He confronts the guy and said, what are you doing?
[00:01:46]  That sounds like something a black guy would say, what are you doing?
[00:01:50]  I totally don't believe that.
[00:01:53]  That doesn't even sound believable.
[00:01:58]  What are you doing?
[00:01:59]  That's when, and this clip does exist on social media.
[00:02:02]  It doesn't paint the whole picture.
[00:02:04]  This white individual reaches over, says that's your car, and slaps my client in the face.
[00:02:09]  That you believe that?
[00:02:11]  So he kicked his car, called him an N-word, then he slaps him in.
[00:02:16]  He says, what are you doing?
[00:02:18]  The white guy then slaps him in the face.
[00:02:23]  Yeah, that's totally believable.
[00:02:24]  They're arguing, man.
[00:02:26]  Yeah.
[00:02:27]  Curtson, the alleged victim in this case, threw the first punch.
[00:02:29]  DeKyra Vernon is 24 years old and lives with her mother in Evanston.
[00:02:33]  Her record up till now, only included traffic.
[00:02:36]  DeKyra Vernon is 24 years old and lives with her mother in Evanston.
[00:02:40]  For record up till now, only included traffic tickets.
[00:02:44]  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.
[00:02:54]  That woman eventually gets knocked out.
[00:02:57]  The woman that was injured and knocked out, she was trying to render aid to another victim.
[00:03:03]  She was.
[00:03:03]  At the time.
[00:03:04]  She was rendering aid to another victim that was on the ground trying to get him back to his feet.
[00:03:09]  He's actually trying to get his pants back on because they beat his pants off of him.
[00:03:15]  And while she's rendering aid to that gentleman there, that's when Ms. Vernon comes up and strikes her in the face.
[00:03:20]  There's for no reason at all.
[00:03:22]  34-year-old Montianez Merriweather is from South Cumminsville.
[00:03:26]  He served seven years in prison for armed robbery and was out on bond for four felony gun charges when the fight occurred.
[00:03:33]  What?
[00:03:38]  He went to prison for armed robbery?
[00:03:41]  Yeah.
[00:03:41]  He's out on bail for how many felonies?
[00:03:44]  For four gun charges or something like that?
[00:03:47]  He shouldn't have been out on the street.
[00:03:49]  Yeah, that's this myth that us people, black people, African Americans, we get a tough time in the judicial system.
[00:03:59]  Yeah, that's a that's that's just a blatant lie.
[00:04:03]  Yeah, I think we get preferential treatment.
[00:04:06]  He shouldn't have never been on the streets.
[00:04:07]  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.
[00:04:15]  He's probably gonna be saving life.
[00:04:17]  Yeah, hey, um, I bet you he was the I bet you he the ringleader.
[00:04:20]  He got the most street cred.
[00:04:22]  Yeah, yeah, he's the ringleader.
[00:04:23]  Yeah, he got all the juice.
[00:04:26]  We have Mr. Meriwether coming up behind the victim, striking him in the side of the face from behind.
[00:04:34]  He started all of this.
[00:04:35]  That's not even.
[00:04:36]  But the other guy is the one that was called the right, right, right.
[00:04:39]  See, that's not even a fair fight.
[00:04:40]  Two-on-one?
[00:04:41]  Yeah.
[00:04:42]  None of this is making sense.
[00:04:44]  This wasn't a fight.
[00:04:46]  Man, he got jumped.
[00:04:47]  Yeah.
[00:04:48]  That man got jumped.
[00:04:49]  Yeah, but he wasn't called the supposedly the N-word.
[00:04:53]  But even if he was called the N-word, it doesn't justify this behavior.
[00:04:57]  Yeah, if someone calls you the N-word and you strike that person, you're pretty much verifying that you are an N-word.
[00:05:05]  Yeah.
[00:05:06]  It's just a word.
[00:05:07]  Why are you giving these people all that power?
[00:05:08]  Yeah, in this day and age, that word has no power over you unless you give it the power.
[00:05:14]  And y'all gave it all the power.
[00:05:15]  And look how y'all acted.
[00:05:16]  But personally, I don't even think he said that.
[00:05:18]  The guy went to a jazz festival.
[00:05:21]  Yeah.
[00:05:21]  That's a lot of black people.
[00:05:22]  He's surrounded by, you know, African Americans.
[00:05:25]  Yeah.
[00:05:25]  And he calls one African American the N-word, kicks his car.
[00:05:29]  The African American responds, what are you doing?
[00:05:31]  And then he slaps him in the face.
[00:05:33]  Yeah.
[00:05:33]  I've never seen a white man behave that way.
[00:05:37]  So you would call this like a surprise?
[00:05:39]  So this is more of a cock and ambush.
[00:05:42]  We spoke with Meriwether's cousins after the hearing.
[00:05:45]  They say the prosecution is distorting the facts and their cousin is not a bad guy.
[00:05:52]  That is insane.
[00:05:54]  It's all on video.
[00:05:55]  Hey, man.
[00:05:57]  Gaslighting at its finest.
[00:06:00]  Let's see what they got to say.
[00:06:01]  Let's stop jumping to conclusions because we have a prejudice.
[00:06:05]  Yeah.
[00:06:06]  Let's give him a first shot.
[00:06:07]  Yeah, I am prejudiced.
[00:06:10]  Facts, and their cousin is not a bad guy.
[00:06:13]  He's a wonderful guy.
[00:06:14]  He did his time, as they said it, but since he did his time, he has changed his life completely.
[00:06:18]  Everything they're trying to point him out to be a thug, that is not his.
[00:06:21]  Yeah, I got to tell you, I saw him in the video and he was pretty violent.
[00:06:26]  He was, but you'll be violent if somebody spit on you as well.
[00:06:29]  You'll be violent if somebody cuts.
[00:06:31]  Now she's saying he's spitting on.
[00:06:34]  So let's get the story straight.
[00:06:37]  He kicks the African American's car.
[00:06:39]  Yeah.
[00:06:39]  Calls him the N-word.
[00:06:40]  Black guy responds, what are you doing?
[00:06:42]  He slaps the African American, spits on him, and then spits him after going to a jazz festival.
[00:06:50]  Yeah.
[00:06:50]  Where you're surrounded by these people.
[00:06:53]  This white dude is an animal.
[00:06:56]  How's your racial slayer?
[00:06:59]  Merryweather's cousins say that they want to know why police have not arrested and charged the man who they are calling the victim.
[00:07:07]  After all, police in court today admitted that he threw that first punch.
[00:07:12]  Now, the prosecutor intimated in court that those charges may soon be coming.
[00:07:17]  Incidentally, Matthews is currently charged with assault and aggravated riot.
[00:07:21]  His bond is set at $100,000, but will go up tomorrow, likely, when police add aggravated assault to his charges.
[00:07:28]  Vernon, the female defendant, got a $200,000 bond.
[00:07:31]  She and Merriweather already have all three charges filed against them.
[00:07:35]  Meriwether got a $500,000 bond.
[00:07:38]  The prosecutor plans to present his case to the grand jury on August 8th.
[00:07:44]  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 Policing (01:43) ===

[00:07:59]  Wow.
[00:07:59]  So she was a visitor.
[00:08:01]  She might have been.
[00:08:05]  Look at these faces.
[00:08:06]  Who you believe?
[00:08:07]  All three of them look crazy.
[00:08:09]  That blonde wig is diabolical.
[00:08:13]  Yeah, look at him.
[00:08:14]  Look, it matches a jumpsuit.
[00:08:15]  Yeah, look at this dude.
[00:08:16]  He's like, I knows I done wrong, Mouse.
[00:08:20]  I won't do it no more.
[00:08:23]  That's the guy that went to prison for armed robbery?
[00:08:25]  No, him.
[00:08:26]  Okay, he went to jail armed robbery.
[00:08:29]  Man, she just had traffic tickets.
[00:08:31]  The dude in the center?
[00:08:32]  Yeah, some kind of camera.
[00:08:34]  Yeah.
[00:08:37]  If Cincinnati, if in this area of the country had took a tough approach on crime, this wouldn't have happened.
[00:08:44]  The way they was policing that area that night was totally wrong, too.
[00:08:48]  They had a couple of police officers there in their police cars.
[00:08:50]  Where's the police officers on foot walking the beat?
[00:08:53]  There's so many people down there.
[00:08:54]  Being a deterrent.
[00:08:55]  Yeah.
[00:08:56]  I mean, just from, I mean, it's all kinds of wrong on either side.
[00:09:02]  The police, the way they was policing and the way their judicial system runs, that guy should have never been on the street.
[00:09:09]  Yeah.
[00:09:09]  There's a term that Joe Biden used, super predator.
[00:09:12]  A lot of people use that against him to label him like Hillary used to say it too.
[00:09:17]  Racist, there are such thing as super predators on our streets.
[00:09:20]  They really are.
[00:09:21]  They're just looking for an opportunity.
[00:09:23]  They're like opportunities.
[00:09:25]  They're like opportunists.
[00:09:26]  As soon as you disrespect them, they just let loose and do the worst things imaginable to people.
[00:09:34]  Yeah, I'm thinking that white guy, if he threw the first punch, I'm pretty sure it was self-defense.
[00:09:39]  Could be.
[00:09:40]  Yeah.
[00:09:42]  Crazy story.