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The attorney for the white male seen on video slapping the face of a black male, then getting beaten up in last month's Cincinnati mob attack, blasted the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge against his client.
A cellphone video shows a white male and several black males squaring off before the mob attack begins. The video shows light physical contact between the white male and two black males, while others of both races appear to try to break things up. Then amid verbal sparring, the white male lightly slaps the face of a black male — and then the mob attack commences.
'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.'
The above video and a second clip show the mob repeatedly stomping, kicking, and punching the white male while he's lying in the street.
Doug Brannon — attorney for 45-year-old Alexander Tchervinski — told WXIX-TV that his client "is continuing to suffer from his injuries. He was brutally beaten in the attack, like many others were, and he's continuing his medical treatment."
Tchervinski told WXIX anchor Tricia Macke that he was hit in the head 28 times and robbed.
WLWT-TV reported that its sources confirmed that the white male seen on video slapping the black male is Tchervinski.
But Brannon emphasized to WXIX that the charge against his client is "victim-blaming" and that studies of multiple videos of the mob attack show Tchervinski was protecting himself and others.
"It's very clear in all of the videos — except those edited for political purposes — that Alex was, in fact, acting in self-defense of himself and his friends,” Brannon noted to WXIX.
More from WXIX:
Officer Ken Kober, president of the union that represents Cincinnati police, said in a news release Wednesday, “Cincinnati City Solicitor Emily Smart Woerner bowed to political pressure and ordered the Cincinnati Police Department to file misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges against a man who was the victim of a serious felony assault during the July 26th violence in downtown Cincinnati.“This blatantly political order came after both law Cincinnati law enforcement and Hamilton County prosecutors had concluded proving any sort of crime against the victims would be extremely difficult.
“City Solicitor Woerner and the Pureval administration’s blatant political meddling is the most egregious I’ve witnessed in my career,” Kober said.
“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.”
A city spokeswoman denied that claim Wednesday, WXIX reported.
The station added that Kober earlier in August warned that the mayor's administration was pressuring law enforcement to find a crime to charge the victims with.
Kober on Wednesday also said Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge refused to force detectives to charge Tchervinski, WXIX reported, adding that instead Captain Adam Hennie — the detectives’ supervisor — signed the charge.
"It erodes public trust when you have politicians stepping in and saying we should sign these charges, or we're going to order police to sign these charges," Kober added to the station. "Police have a job to do; let them do it."
Still, WXIX legal analyst Mike Allen told the station that getting convictions will be tough, as prosecutors must show Tchervinski kept up his disorderly conduct after an officer or fire personnel warned him to stop — or that he was within 1,000 feet of a school. And no released video shows either caveat happened, the station said.
Allen — who served as Hamilton County Prosecutor from 1999 to 2004 — added to WXIX that the city also must prove Tchervinski previously was convicted three times of disorderly conduct.
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