Suspect In Videotaped McDonald's Beating Denied Bond
ROSEDALE, Md. (WJZ) -- The viral video has shocked tens of thousands of people. It shows a transgender woman beaten by two teenage girls at a McDonald's in Rosedale. It all happened while McDonald's employees laughed and videotaped the attack.
Weijia Jiang reports one of the suspects in the attack has been denied bond.
Teonna Monae Brown, 18, had a bail review Monday afternoon. Her bail, which was originally set at $150,000, was denied. She faces assault charges. Police records also show Brown had been arrested for a fight at the same McDonald's in 2010. Those charges were later dropped.
The vicious assault captured on the cell phone camera of a McDonald's employee has outraged thousands across the country. The victim, 22-year-old Chrissy Polis---who's transgender---says the incident started as she was trying to use the restroom at the McDonald's. She told her story to our media partner, The Baltimore Sun.
"I went to go use the bathroom. Come back out, the girl spit in my face, said, `Are you trying to talk to my man?' I said, `No, I didn't even know that was your man at all.' The other girl came up, spit in my face, then they started ripping my hair, throwing me on the floor," Polis said.
Police have also arrested a 14-year-old girl. She is being charged as a juvenile.
"They just seemed like they wanted to pick a fight that night, they really did. And come to find out that girl was only 14 years old. I was shocked," she said. "They kicked me in my face; they really hurt me really bad and I'm just afraid to go outside now because of stuff like this."
Only one McDonald's employee can be seen trying to intervene in the assault. Several others can be heard laughing. McDonald's says the employee who videotaped the attack has since been fired.
Meanwhile, Polis says she wanted to think the older female customer who stepped in to stop the attack seconds before Polis collapsed and had an epileptic seizure.
"If it wasn't for her, I probably would have had the seizure and they probably would have kept on continuing hurting me even more," she said.
"They acted like animals," said that woman, Vicky Thoms.
Thoms tried to break the fight up but ended up punched in the eye herself. She said she stepped in because nobody else would.
"I have never in my life seen anything like that. It was like they were going to kill her," Thoms said.
Both women tell WJZ they can't stop thinking about each other.
"I'd like to hug her and tell her sorry something like that happened to her," Thoms said.
"I do want to thank her in person, face to face. That was the right thing she did," Polis said.
Police say they are still trying to determine whether to file hate crime charges.
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz issued the following statement regarding the beating.
"Last week's beating of Chrissy Lee Polis in Rosedale once again reminds us of our responsibility as citizens to do all that we can to ensure that our neighborhoods provide a safe and welcoming environment for residents and visitors. Although this vicious attack was an isolated incident and in no way reflects on the Baltimore County or Rosedale communities, it does serve as a wake-up call that we all have a role to play in moving society forward. It is the conversations around our dinner tables and the casual chatter among friends that develop patterns of behavior. Each and every one of us plays a role in deciding what kind of a society we deserve and what kind of a society we will help create. I have every confidence that Police Chief Jim Johnson and State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger will address this matter professionally, as they address all issues of public safety in Baltimore County. But it is not only their responsibility to make us safe and secure. That responsibility is shared by each of us who call Baltimore County home."
Transgender advocacy groups are planning a rally in front of the Kenwood Avenue McDonald's on Monday at 7 p.m. to condemn the attack.
