January 5, 2021.

DEAR FRIENDS,

On Sunday morning, January 3rd, investigators from SHARK investigated a property for illegal cockfighting in rural Lawrence County, OH. When our investigators arrived on-site, they counted hundreds of cars, making this an extraordinarily large criminal operation. Soon after, SHARK President Steve Hindi legally launched a drone to document the illegal activity. 

In Steve's words: “Right after the drone was launched, one of the cockfighters became enraged. He grabbed my drone controller and smashed it, leaving the drone to hover, uncontrolled." (This is a violation of federal law)
 

The first cockfighter, seconds before he first attacked Steve

"Next, the cockfighter kicked me, and then he went after my associate, who was in a car. I yelled for my associate to leave. The cockfighter rushed me from the front, while a second cockfighter attacked me from behind, knocking me to the ground. Both then repeatedly kicked and punched me, causing a gash to my head, breaking one of my ribs, and causing a separation in my back.”

The second cockfighter, who attacked Steve from behind and knocked him to the ground

Injured, Steve managed to walk away, down a hill. A few minutes later, the same two cockfighters drove a tan pickup truck to track Steve down and beat him again. During the first beating, they stole Steve's two body cameras. This time the assailants noticed Steve had a Sony video camera, which they stole and destroyed. As they left, Steve focused on the license place of their tan pickup (HIL 1286). That license plate was given to the police later in the day.

Anticipating another, possibly deadly attack, Steve moved into the woods to await help. A third associate was able to retrieve Steve about an hour later, whereupon he was taken to a hospital in Ironton.

Steve Hindi at the hospital after the attack

While Steve was in hiding, the cockfighters turned their attention to the second associate, who had left in a vehicle. The cockfighters rammed the vehicle from behind six times, finally sending the vehicle out of control. It violently crashed into a ditch. The vehicle is believed to be totaled.

The vehicle our SHARK investigator was in as it was being pulled out of the ditch

“They brutally beat me twice and then stole my equipment in the process. Then they tried to kill my associate by using their truck as a deadly weapon. What they didn't realize is that, although they stole and destroyed camera equipment, they didn't get it all, and we can show their murderous behavior."

Cockfighters are truly disgusting criminals and we are pressing for all those invoked to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  We will have much more of this developing situation throughout the week.