CINCINNATI — Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers announced on Wednesday the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the June assault outside of the Montgomery Inn boathouse that involved WCPO 9 Chief Meteorologist Steve Raleigh and at least one member of his family.
A court document cites a "conflict of interest" as the reason for the appointment. The prosecutor's office said that conflict of interest has to do with Raleigh's father-in-law, former Hamilton County prosecutor, sheriff and judge Simon Leis. Leis endorsed Powers in the upcoming election for prosecutor.
According to a police incident report, officers were called to the scene of a fight in the parking lot of the Riverside Drive restaurant just after 9 p.m. on June 22. Doug Morrow, 79, Lois Morrow, 76, and Troy Morrow, 40, were hurt.
No charges have been filed more than a month after the incident, and the only investigative report that has been made available by Cincinnati police was a heavily redacted incident report. That report listed only one suspect; their identification was redacted.
"Suspect approached victim #1 striking him with a closed fist in the head knocking him to the ground," causing injuries, the report reads. "Victim #2 and victim #3 while attempting to aid victim #1 was struck and shoved to the ground by the suspect."
The police report had no information about injuries, but family of the victims say Doug Morrow was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion, and Lois Morrow was hospitalized for four days with a concussion, fractured skull, brain bleed, a cut that required staples in the back of her head and a lens detached from her eye. Troy Morrow said he was blindsided with a punch to the head and then choked.
The daughter of the injured couple posted video of the incident to Facebook. Arguing can be heard off camera, followed by an escalation of shouting and what appears to be physical contact between multiple people, but it does not show any clear cut assault. After the scuffle, the video shows the older man and woman on the ground. The woman is seen bleeding from her head.
You can watch the full video here:
The Morrow family held a press conference with their lawyer, Konrad Kircher, on July 15, calling on the Raleigh family to accept responsibility for what they say happened.
They said the assault stemmed from a car accident in the parking lot when Doug was driving with Lois in the passenger seat of their 2005 Ford F-150. They were picking up their son, Troy, from Montgomery Inn where Troy worked. They picked him up from the entrance to the restaurant, and began to pull back out of the 180-degree driveway to get back to the road when they say the car was struck by a black Cadillac Escalade in the front right coming from the parking lot area.
One person got out of the Escalade, the family said.
Troy said an argument then ensued with someone else who came from the direction of the restaurant, insisting that police not be called and that they just exchange insurance. Kircher said just two months before, Doug had been burned after agreeing to just exchange insurance and not call police. That ended up in him paying for his own damages to his car.
Doug also suspected the person driving was drinking, and wanted to call police, his daughter said in a Facebook post. The police incident report also listed the suspect as possibly being under the influence of alcohol.
Troy says while he was arguing with the person who had come from the restaurant, he recalled hearing "No one's gonna hit my dad" before he says he was "clocked" in the head. He said the person then jumped on top of him and choked him. Doug said upon seeing this, he tried to get that person off of Troy, hitting him. Doug said he didn't know who the person was who jumped on his son. Kircher said the person on top of Troy either punched or pushed him away so hard that he fell back to the pavement, semi-conscious.
Lois said upon seeing the commotion, she "tapped someone on the shoulder," asking for help, not knowing who it was, and then "saw that arm come around and punch me." She was knocked to the ground, bleeding from her head and vomiting because of the concussion, Kircher said. Lois woke up in the hospital two days later, not remembering a thing, but said she was "scared to death" seeing all the blood. She was in the hospital for four days in total, she said.
"I don’t know what reason that guy had to hit me like that," Lois said holding back tears. "All I did was ask for help. I didn’t say no bad names to him”
Troy said the violence was unprovoked.
“I never even lifted my hands even so much as a defensive manner," Troy said of the entire encounter.
Kircher said despite calls of a cover-up on social media, that they were confident in the police investigation. Kircher said two cameras in the area not owned by Montgomery Inn were not functioning at the time of the assault.
Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve was appointed to investigate and prosecute (if necessary), starting with the grand jury report, which would determine whether an indictment is to be returned and charges are to be filed.
"It is important that the public have confidence in the equal application of the law," Powers said in a press release. "No duty is more important for a prosecutor. With this appointment, the public can be assured that justice in this matter will be administrated fairly and impartially."
Kircher told WCPO 9 Wednesday that the appointment is a "positive development" and that "the process is moving forward as it should."
We reached out to Cincinnati police on Wednesday. They said they had no update and that the investigation was ongoing.
We have also reached out to Raleigh's lawyer for comment, but have not yet heard back.
WCPO 9 Vice President and General Manager Jeff Brogan released the following statement:
"As we have said, we continue to monitor developments and official findings of the investigation into the incident involving Steve Raleigh’s family. WCPO will cover the story with a commitment to balanced reporting. Since Steve’s family is the subject of a news story, he will be off work for now."
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