Cincinnati man who lost eye in unsolved random beating says crime ‘out of control’ after brutal viral assault

CINCINNATI – After a viral public beatdown in downtown Cincinnati, another resident and victim of a heinous violent crime is speaking out about his experience with roving mobs in the city.

On Sept. 23, 2023, Chris Lewis, then 39, was walking home late at night from a Cincinnati Reds game when he was randomly jumped by three juveniles. 

“They just immediately sucker-punched me in the eye,” Lewis told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. “And then, right as soon as that happened, I knew that I was in trouble.” 

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Over a year-and-half period, Lewis underwent six surgeries to try to correct his vision. None of them fixed the issue, and he ultimately lost his eye. He now wears a prosthetic. 

“So, after they hit me, I knew immediately my eye was kind of exposed,” he said. “I sort of covered my face and sat down on the ground, and I was trying to explain to them that they had just caused a serious injury. And they were kicking me the whole time and sort of like ignoring sort of what I was trying to describe to them.”

The teens robbed Lewis of his earbuds and phone and ran away into the night. 

“It’s significantly reduced my quality of life,” he told Fox News Digital. “Like, I have trouble driving, confidence is kind of, you know, taking a hit. It’s really, like, I view my life as the before and after of this event because it’s so dramatically impacted just my quality of life, my relationships, just all aspects of it have kind of been hampered by that evening.”

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None of the juveniles involved in the attack have been arrested, and Lewis said the city’s resources are stretched to the limit. 

“We’ve been having a lot of issues with juveniles, and I think they’re kind of like overexerted trying to keep them in line, and so they did not … spend a lot of resources investigating my crime,” he said. “And their attitude was sort of like, ‘This is happening all the time.’ They can’t really get it under control.”

He said the July 26 brawl in Cincinnati brought back difficult memories, though, in his case, the attack was unprovoked. He is disappointed and frustrated with the city’s inability to find solutions to violent crime issues, calling the efforts “ineffective” and adding that he resents the political polarization of the crime issue. 

“I think that everyone deserves to feel safe and secure in their community, and so we should be trying to work together to identify and implement solutions,” he said. “So, I got a little frustrated by some of the, like, ingrained, entrenched kind of arguments that were occurring just because I want to find solutions and just sort of prevent this from happening to anyone else.

“I wish that our city leaders would take this seriously and work together and identify the root of the problems and then work together to address them,” said Lewis. “I think that we ignored some of the uptick in crime that was happening in this neighborhood until it got out of control.” 

Lewis’ mother, Karen Lewis, concurs with his view that not enough resources were spent trying to solve the violent crime. 

She told Fox News Digital detectives had the identities of suspects but never brought anyone in for questioning. 

“We put up reward signs, and a girl at the school where one of these kids attended heard of the attack and provided my son with the names,” she said. “The detective also spoke with her. The detective, in our opinion, did not try hard enough to get the kids who did this to my son.

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“The detective pretty much told us to move on and not worry about apprehending these kids,” Karen Lewis said. “He said even if they did find them, they would basically be let out almost immediately. He said at least one of these kids was a really bad kid and had been in trouble before.  He said that he would do something someday and karma would catch up with him.”

She blames a “soft-on-crime attitude of the juvenile court system” in Cincinnati. 

“The juvenile court system fails the citizens of Cincinnati. Crime is kept quiet. My son thought he was safe and later found out that a lot of crime is not made public,” she said. 

Cincinnati Police Public Information Officer Lt. Jonathan Cunningham said suspects were difficult to identify because Lewis’ beating happened in the early morning hours.

“I have not had the opportunity to review this case in detail, but if my memory serves me correctly, extensive investigatory hours were put into this case with all leads being exhausted,” he said. “At the onset of this case, many local media covered the story. Again, our investigative teams work tirelessly on all reports of violence in an effort to hold those accountable for their violent behavior.”

He said a suspect was eventually found, but had a provable alibi. 

During the brutal July 26 beatdown, which has reverberated across the country, one woman, identified only as Holly, was left with serious brain trauma. 

“It’s been very, very hard, and I’m still recovering,” Holly said in a video posted online. “I still have very bad brain trauma.”

“I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for all of the love and support. It is very humbling that you have sent your prayers, your blessings. It’s definitely what’s keeping me going, and you have just brought back faith and humanity.”

According to the latest update from police, four suspects have been arrested, and two more are still at large. Though the viral video shows only two primary victims, police say there are four other victims of the attack.

Further investigations, arrests and charges are expected, according to Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval.