Kyle Raleigh is charged with assault outside the Montgomery Inn boathouse

CINCINNATI – A Hamilton County grand jury has indicted Kyle Raleigh in connection with a June attack outside the Montgomery Inn boathouse.

Raleigh is charged with one count of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony, according to a grand jury report released Thursday afternoon.

Kyle is the son of WCPO 9 Chief Meteorologist Steve Raleigh, who was also present at the time of the attack.

The assault charge comes after 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 following a car accident and heated argument. Doug Morrow, 79, Lois Morrow, 76, and Troy Morrow, 40, were all injured.

According to court documents, Kyle Raleigh was “under the influence of sudden passion or in a sudden fit of rage” when he used “deadly force” in the attack on Lois and Douglas Morrow.

Troy Morrow was also charged in connection with the incident. Troy Morrow is charged with menacing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, for “causing Steve Raleigh to believe that the defendant would cause him physical harm.”

The police report on the incident was heavily redacted and did not provide details about the nature of the injuries. However, the victims' relatives say Doug Morrow became unconscious and suffered a concussion, and Lois Morrow was hospitalized with a concussion, a skull fracture and a cerebral hemorrhage, a laceration that required staples to the back of the head and dislodged a lens from the eye.

“The suspect approached Victim #1 and struck him in the head with his clenched fist, knocking him to the ground,” the police report on the incident states. “Victim #2 and Victim #3 were struck and pushed to the ground by the suspect while attempting to assist Victim #1.”

The injured couple's daughter posted a video of the incident on Facebook. An argument can be heard off-camera, followed by an escalation in shouting and what appears to be physical contact between several people, but there is no clear evidence of an attack. After the scuffle, the video shows Doug and Lois Morrow on the ground. The woman can be seen bleeding from her head.

You can watch the full video here:

Video of the incident at the Montgomery Inn

Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve previously announced that no charges would be filed against Steve Raleigh.

“During the course of this investigation, it was determined that criminal charges are not warranted against Mr. Steve Raleigh as there is no evidence that he has violated any criminal laws,” Tekulve said in a news release. “Accordingly, this investigation into the case of Mr. Steve Raleigh is complete.”

Tekulve was appointed special prosecutor to lead the investigation after Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers cited a “conflict of interest” in overseeing the case.

The Morrow family said the attack stemmed from a car accident in the parking lot as Doug was driving with Lois in the passenger seat of their 2005 Ford F-150. They picked up their son Troy from the Montgomery Inn where Troy worked. They picked him up at the entrance to the restaurant and began to drive out of the 180-degree driveway back onto the road when they said the car was struck in the front right by a black Cadillac Escalade coming from the parking lot area.

One person got out of the Escalade, the family said.

Troy said there was an argument with someone else who came from the direction of the restaurant and insisted that the police not be called and that they should just change the insurance. Kircher said just two months earlier, Doug was burned after agreeing to just replace the insurance and not call the police, which resulted in him paying for the damage to his car.

Doug also suspected the driver was drunk and wanted to call the police, his daughter said in a Facebook post. The police incident report also stated that the suspect may have been under the influence of alcohol.

Troy said while he was arguing with the person who had come out of the restaurant, he heard “Nobody's going to hit my dad” before saying he was “stuck in his head.” He said the person then jumped on him and choked him. Doug said that when he saw this, he tried to get that person away from Troy by hitting him. Doug said he didn't know who the person who jumped on his son was. Kircher said the person on top of Troy either hit him or pushed him away so hard that he fell back onto the sidewalk, semi-conscious.

Lois said that when she saw the commotion, she “tapped someone on the shoulder” and asked for help, not knowing who it was, and then “saw this arm come around and hit me.” She was thrown to the ground , was bleeding from her head and vomiting due to the concussion, Kircher said. Lois woke up in the hospital two days later and couldn't remember anything, but said she was “scared to death” when she saw all the blood. She was in the hospital for a total of four days, she said.

“I don't know why that guy hit me like that,” Lois said, holding back tears. “I just asked for help. I didn’t call him names.”

Merlyn Shiverdecker, the Raleigh family's attorney, released the following statement:

“We are disappointed with the grand jury’s findings regarding Kyle. It should be noted that these are merely accusations and Kyle is presumed innocent. The grand jury has accused Troy Morrow of being the instigator of the incident. We intend to vigorously defend these allegations in court and not in the media.”

Kyle Raleigh is due in court on these charges on October 4th.

The Morrow family's attorney, Konrad Kircher, also released a statement:

“We have waited several months for the process to be completed. We respected that process and that respect was justified. We are very pleased with the three felony charges against Kyle. We believe these are appropriate and overwhelmingly supported.” As for the charges against Troy, they are just a small step above a traffic ticket, but we welcome them and are excited to tell this story.