Baltimore County police have charged
Teonna Monae Brown in connection with the April 18 beating of Chrissy
Lee Polis, a 22-year-old transgender woman, at a suburban Baltimore
McDonald's.
Brown was arrested Friday and charged
with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of
second-degree assault, the Baltimore Sun reported.
A 3-minute video allegedly showing
Polis being viciously kicked, punched and dragged by Brown and a
14-year-old girl went viral on Friday. In the video, one employee
and a patron attempt to intervene, but most of the witnesses stand
idly by and several men can be heard laughing in the background.
Toward the end of the video, Polis appears to have a seizure after
one of the suspects kicks her in the head.
The name of the second suspect charged
in the attack has not been released because the charges were filed in
juvenile court.
The McDonald's employee who recorded
the video has been fired.
Polis told the paper that the attack
was “definitely a hate crime.”
“They said, 'That's a dude, that's a
dude and she's in the female bathroom,'” said Polis. “They spit
in my face.”
“I knew they were taping me; I told
the guy to stop,” she added. “They didn't help me. They didn't
do nothing for me.”
The video was taken down from YouTube
by site administrators, who said it violated the site's policies, but
returned on several other sites, including the popular Drudge Report
and World
Star Hip Hop.
According to the police report, the
suspects said the fight was “over using a bathroom.”
Polis also told the paper that she
intends to sue the fast food chain.
“Anyone in my predicament should not
be afraid to walk the streets,” Polis said. “They should not
have to go into a restaurant and get gawked at and made fun of. They
shouldn't be afraid to leave the house. It's just wrong.” (The
video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Transgender activists are planning a
7PM rally on Monday outside the Rosedale McDonald's in support of
Polis and to raise awareness of such crimes.