WCPO 'aware' of incident involving chief meteorologist Steve Raleigh's family
A family member of a well-known Cincinnati weatherman was involved in an alleged assault in the East End last month.
After a video of the incident began circulating on social media this week, WCPO Vice President and General Manager Jeff Brogan released a statement on the TV station's Facebook page Friday, confirming the family of its chief meteorologist, Steve Raleigh, was involved in the incident.
"We are aware of the incident involving Steve Raleigh’s family," Brogan wrote. "It is still under investigation, and at this time no charges have been filed against anyone.
Brogan added that Raleigh's account is "consistent with the police report" and WCPO "will continue to monitor official findings."
WCPO has not said whether Raleigh will continue to be on his normal newscast schedule while the investigation takes place. The Enquirer reached out to WCPO on Saturday to ask about Raleigh's status, but a phone call and voicemail have not been returned.
WVXU reported that Raleigh was absent from the early evening newscast Friday. Instead, Cameron Hardin was in his place.
Additionally, Raleigh's accounts on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have either been deleted or deactivated.
What happened?
The assault took place on the evening of June 22 after a minor crash occurred in the parking lot of Montgomery Inn Boathouse on Riverside Drive, according to an incident report.
Raleigh's family member – who The Enquirer has not named because he hasn't been charged with a crime − was driving a black Cadillac Escalade in the Boathouse parking lot when he hit a white Ford F-150 after failing to yield to oncoming traffic, a crash report reads.
A "large fight" broke out in response to the crash, according to a transcript of police audio 911 calls.
A suspect struck a victim in the head with a closed fist, according to an incident report. The victim was knocked to the ground and injured.
Two other people stepped in to aid the first victim. The suspect then struck and shoved the two other people to the ground, also injuring them.
A woman hit her head, bled and started vomiting during the assault, a transcript of police audio reads.
The incident report does not list the conditions of the victims or whether they were taken to the hospital. However, the crash report states the driver of the F-150 and another one of its occupants were taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
Police believe the assault suspect was under the influence of alcohol, according to the incident report.
It is still unclear whether the suspect has any relation to Raleigh or if they were involved in the crash leading up to the incident. Names of the two suspects and five victims on the incident report have been redacted, and police have not made any arrests either.
Video footage circulates on social media
The video of the assault was posted by Facebook user Stacie Morrow-Stickrod, who claims to be the daughter of the victims. The post had over 1,000 reactions, 115 comments and more than 2,800 shares as of Saturday morning.
The video shows a man and a woman lying on the ground.
"Please, she's bleeding. She's bleeding," the person filming the video says.
Other people in the video are heard arguing.
Police have not identified any of the people in the video.
Who is Steve Raleigh?
Raleigh has been the chief meteorologist at WCPO since 2005, according to the TV station's website.
After his 24-year-old daughter Madison died by suicide in 2019, Raleigh launched Madi's House, a nonprofit organization to help men and women struggling with addiction and mental illness.
Raleigh's wife, Julie, is the daughter of Simon Leis Jr., a former Hamilton County prosecutor, judge and sheriff. The crash report lists Leis as the owner of the Cadillac Escalade that was being driven by Raleigh's family member during the collision.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: WCPO 'aware' of incident involving family of Steve Raleigh
