‘We Are the Police’: Armed Citizen Patrols Vetting Drivers Spark Tensions In Ohio Town Two Weeks After White Supremacists Seized Highway Overpass with Racist Flags
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A group of armed citizens has begun patrolling a historically Black Ohio community after a neo-Nazi rally in early February that left many residents on edge.
With tensions running hot, some see the self-appointed militia as necessary defenders, while others say the patrols are a clear sign of darker days to come.
About two weeks ago, a group of neo-Nazis stepped out of a U-Haul truck near Interstate 75 by Lincoln Heights, shouting racial slurs and displaying swastika-emblazoned flags from an overpass. Residents confronted them, turning the encounter into a tense standoff as police and deputies rushed in, according to body camera footage from the Evendale Police Department.
In the aftermath of the violent confrontation, several riflemen — often masked and dressed in black — started patrolling the suburb located 15 miles north of Cincinnati, which was once the largest predominantly Black city in the U.S. and the first all-Black, self-governing city north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Two weeks later, they remain on guard but have had to respond to concerns from those uneasy about the armed street patrols — with men carrying long guns, ready to strike.
In recent days, some Lincoln Heights residents have made dozens of 911 calls about the armed patrols, including reports of several confrontations, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer, citing police records.
According to the newspaper, drivers have reported being stopped and questioned by armed men, while others say they were approached while waiting in fast-food drive-thru lines. A reporter from the newspaper was also stopped but was allowed to pass after showing his media credentials.
Jim Meister, a Lincoln Heights business owner, said he went to check on a car parked in a vacant, fenced-off lot next to his business when three men got out and threatened to shoot him, according to the outlet. He was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher at the time, and the call captured part of the exchange, with Meister telling the men he was speaking with police.
“We are the police. What’s wrong?” one of the militiamen told Meister, according to Ohio station WKRC. “We’re protecting Lincoln Heights.”
The situation reportedly calmed down once police arrived and clarified that Meister owned the lot, according to the station.
“I think the police are afraid to do something because they don’t want to cause any problems,” Meister said. “But what they’re doing down there is a (criminal) offense. You can’t threaten someone and say, ‘I’m going to shoot you.’”
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, which had also responded to the neo-Nazi rally, stated it was unaware of the situation but emphasized, “We don’t want neighborhood militias.”
Regardless of the legal questions, many residents have praised the efforts of ordinary citizens stepping up to safeguard the community.
“I thank God for them,” local business owner Eric Ruffin told WKRC, referring to the nascent group known as the Lincoln Heights Protectors.
Chaos erupted on Feb. 7 as Ruffin attempted to drive across the overpass but found himself trapped by an apparent lynch mob.
Ruffin said he was paralyzed with fear as more than a dozen skinheads, dressed in black with red face masks, surrounded his vehicle and hurled slurs at him. Their uniforms matched those worn in a similar neo-Nazi demonstration in Columbus, Ohio, last fall, complete with swastika flags — considered the quintessential symbol of hate.
He said he felt safer now that members of his community were standing watch.
“I’m grateful that they’re out there doing that. I wish I could disagree with it. I wish I could say it’s irresponsible or not a good look for our community,” Ruffin said. “But this morning, I stopped and gave them coffee and a hug because clearly, neither Evendale nor the sheriff’s department believes what happened was illegal.”
At the time of the incident, the neo-Nazi group also fastened red swastika banners to the overpass fence and displayed a sign reading “America for the White Man,” according to photos shared with CNN.
Swastikas, the notorious emblem of Germany’s Nazi Party, remain linked to white supremacy and the dark legacy of WWII and the Holocaust.
It’s not clear what specifically prompted the racist demonstration in Lincoln Heights or if it was just a randomly staged incident.
The Vision Way overpass links Lincoln Heights to Evendale, just two miles from Reading, which was once known as a “sundown town,” where local laws barred Black people from being out after dark to deter them from living there.
Residents expressed frustration with public officials and law enforcement, saying the lack of official action forced them to take matters into their own hands.
Unwilling to rely on law enforcement for protection, anonymous community members have organized around-the-clock patrols.
At the time of the incident, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office did step in before the confrontation could escalate “and make sure that no one was hurt,” Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said in a statement. “Lincoln Heights residents are understandably upset,” the statement read. “We continue to work with the community, and emphasize that there is no place for hate in Hamilton County.”
However, many voices in the community pointed to the fact that law enforcement left the scene without as much as issuing a warning, signaling that racism and hate would be tolerated in Hamilton County.
“Their statements talk about how hate has no place here, but no justice was served,” local resident Kachara Talbert told CNN after confronting the protesters on the day of the incident. “These are terrorists we’re talking about,” Talbert said. “Seeing the flag being represented here and seeing the police stand there in what looked like unity, not disgust, made us feel like they’re saying what the Nazis stand for is OK.”
Lincoln Heights residents were outraged not just by the neo-Nazis’ presence but also by what they saw as law enforcement’s failure to act, as none of the extremists were arrested. Their frustration led to a public statement from the neighboring Evendale Police Department, which defended its inaction by stating the neo-Nazis hadn’t broken any laws.
Officers were “charged with providing for the safety of EVERYONE,” the statement read. “They did this cognizant that one of the groups was heavily armed with multiple firearms and that tensions among opposing groups were escalating.”
Still, many feared that the lack of consequences for the racist demonstrators would only embolden them to return, possibly escalating their actions even further. Critics argued that it was hard to imagine an equivalent group of angry Black demonstrators like the Black Panthers flooding a white neighborhood without any arrests being made.
“We are underestimating the dangers of the police not even attempting to identify them. Who are they trying to protect? Because it isn’t us,” Talbert emphasized. “It could be another Hitler behind those masks. It could be a school shooter behind those masks.”
Talbert called law enforcement’s failure to question or identify the demonstrators an “insult” to the community, noting that the same police department has interrogated people of color for things like gathering on sidewalks.
“I’ve watched Black men all my life in this community being frisked and detained without probable cause,” she said. “But I didn’t see any rubber bullets that day. I didn’t see anybody getting shot, like during Black Lives Matter protests. I didn’t see gas. The calmness of the police overall, the way they were standing in front of them, it made us very upset.”
It remains uncertain if or when the armed militia group will disband, with the answer likely hinging on whether local law enforcement can regain the trust of the residents of Lincoln Heights, WCPO reported.
“What we saw … was an act of terror,” Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church pastor Julian Cook told the station. “What became clear … is that there has been a pretty significant deterioration in the relationship with the sheriff and the community,” Cook said. “That’s why people feel they don’t trust the law enforcement that exists in the community.”
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