Greater Cincinnati Investigation, who was retained by the Covington Diocese and Covington Catholic High School, has released its final investigative report into the January 18 incident in Washington D.C while students attended the March for Life.
In all, 240 man hours were devoted into the investigation. 43 students were interviewed, along with nine faculty chaperones and four parent chaperones. Approximately 50 hours of video was reviewed during the investigation.
In its key findings, the report said non of the Covington Catholic students performed a "Build the Wall" chant and instead were doing school chants to drown out offensive statements by Black Hebrew Israelites.
When it comes to Nathan Phillips, students believed he was coming into their group to join in with their cheers. None of the students felt threatened but were "confused".
The investigation also found no evidence of offensive or racist statements by the students toward Phillips or members of his group. Some student did perform the "tomahawk chop" while Phillips drummed and some took part in his chant.
When the interaction with Phillips ended, the Covington Catholic students returned their attention back to the Black Hebrew Israelites, but shortly after, chaperones moved students to the buses.
Regarding a video with an individual screaming "It's not rape if you enjoy it!", it was found that the statement did not come from any Covington Catholic student. Longer videos show another person in the crowd stated "He does not go to CovCath" immediately following the comment.
The report states that Phillips' public interviews contain some inconsistencies and they have not been able to resolve or verify those comments due to their inability to contact him.
The full final investigative report can be read below.
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