The woman seen in a viral video being knocked unconscious during a brutal assault at the Cincinnati Jazz Festival is speaking publicly about the physical and emotional toll of the attack.
In an interview with NewsNation, Holly — who asked to be identified only by her first name — said she is “terrified to go outside” and still experiencing “excruciating pain” nearly two weeks after the beating. Doctors have told her her brain remains swollen, and she is facing a range of neurological problems that sometimes leave her unable to speak. If her symptoms persist, she may require a permanent caretaker.
“I’m not OK at all, and I’m not going to be OK for a really long time,” she said. “I have full-blown panic attacks… it’s like I can’t breathe, it’s like I’m there in that moment again. My brain is having trouble understanding what’s real and what’s not real.”
Six people have been charged so far in connection with the incident. Holly says she now sees her survival as a “second chance at life” — one she intends to use to speak for other victims of assault. “I just feel so blessed to be able to be a voice in this movement because I didn’t die, and there are a lot of people out there who were never so lucky,” she said.
Holly says the violence unfolded after she tried to help another victim being beaten by multiple people. “I could hear the victims lying on the ground begging for help,” she said. “One of them had specifically said, ‘Please God, someone help me.’ I knew that might be his last words… I wasn’t going to stand there and watch him die.” She says she begged the attackers to stop before being struck herself from the side and behind.
She described watching the footage of her own assault as a surreal, almost out-of-body experience. “It’s like watching a movie where someone dies but they don’t know they’re dead… Then my brain starts coming back to normal, and it’s like, ‘No, you are alive.’”
Holly has criticized the police response, saying officers on the scene did not take her statement or call an ambulance, and that she went home in an Uber. She also says she has yet to hear from the Cincinnati police chief, mayor, or a city council member who publicly claimed the victims “begged for that beatdown.”
At a news conference this week, she called for bystanders who fail to call 911 during violent incidents to face prosecution or fines. For now, she says, recovery — both physical and emotional — will be a long process. “I’m not just going to sit there and be complacent,” she said. “I know now exactly how traumatic it is.”
