Kentucky prosecutors have dropped charges against a University of Cincinnati (UC) student who was arrested during a protest on the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge on July 17, 2025.
Kean Babcock, a fourth-year neuroscience major at UC, was initially charged by Covington Police with felony rioting during a rally held in support of Imam Ayman Soliman, a former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 9, 2025. Commonwealth prosecutors later reduced the felony to misdemeanor charges.
Babcock’s trial was scheduled for Jan. 15, 2026, but he arrived at the Kenton County Justice Center Thursday morning to find his attorney missing and his courtroom empty. He said he had missed a notification from his lawyer the night before informing him that the charges were dismissed. According to the Kenton County Attorney’s Office, the case was dropped on the condition that Babcock agreed the officers had probable cause to arrest him…