Vance Calls For Man Caught In Viral Video Punching Woman To Be Jailed For ‘A Very Long Time’

Vice President JD Vance called Monday for the man caught in a viral video punching a woman in Cincinnati, Ohio, over the weekend to go to jail “for a very long time.”

Vance was referring to an incident on the streets of Cincinnati on Saturday night when a man was thrown to the ground and kicked and punched by a mob outside of a music festival. After the beaten man got up, a woman was punched in the face and appeared to be knocked unconscious. Video of the attack quickly circulated online, prompting condemnations from local leaders.

“What I saw, and I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person and it’s disgusting,” Vance said. “And I hope every single one of those people who engaged in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And they will be. They will be so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio take their job seriously.”

The vice president made the comments during a visit to Canton, Ohio, to tout the passage of the Big, Beautiful Bill.

“I don’t know the full context, I don’t know how the fight started,” Vance added. “But the one part that I saw that was really gruesome is you had a grown man who sucker punched a middle-aged woman. Where I come from at least, when you have a grown man who sucker punches a middle-age woman that person ought to go to jail for a very long time — and frankly, he’s lucky there weren’t some better people around because they would’ve handled it themselves. But if they’re not going to handle it, the cops in Cincinnati, the law enforcement, you’ve got to prosecute people.”

Vance also said that local leaders had allowed “too much lawlessness” on the streets of American cities, saying people were afraid to go downtown in cities like Akron, Canton, and Columbus.

“If you want to take your wife or your children out for a meal, you shouldn’t be worried about street violence,” Vance said. “The only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engaged in that violence and throw their asses in prison.”

Authorities have promised to identify the attackers seen in the videos and bring charges. Law enforcement have not announced the identifies of any of the attackers.

“I am in complete disgust waking up to the viral video many of you have now seen. The behavior displayed is nothing short of cruel and absolutely unacceptable. Our investigative team is working diligently to identify every individual involved in causing harm. It’s also important to clarify: this was a sudden dispute between individuals following a verbal altercation. It was not connected in any way to the Music Fest,” Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said on Sunday.