TRANS WOMAN ATTACKED IN MCDONALD’S

A McDonald’s employee has been fired after filming a violent attack on a transgender woman by two teenage girls at one of the chain’s Maryland, USA, restaurants on 18 April.

Twenty-two year old Chrissy Lee Polis got into an argument with 18 year old Teonna Monae Brown and an un-named 14 year old girl after she tried to use the women’s bathroom.

The incident was filmed and uploaded on to YouTube and shows the teenagers attacking and repeatedly punching Polis in the face, kicking her and dragging her by her hair. Towards the end of the attack Polis appears to have a seizure.

Although another employee and a patron attempted to intervene, others can be heard laughing in the background.

The fast-food chain issued a statement: “We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling.”

Vernon Hackett, the employee who filmed and uploaded the video that was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, was later fired by the company.

On Facebook, Hackett appeared to justify the attack by saying: “That was not a female that was getting beat up…. That was a man… He was dressed like a woman… And he was in the females’ bathroom knowing he was a man… And when told to get out the ladies’ bathroom he got smart with everybody…”

Polis appears to have suffered no serious long-terms injuries, other than cuts and bruises, but said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun that the experience of having the video of the attack posted on the Internet was “like walking out of the closet all over again,” adding, “I want to cry, but I need to hold my head up”.

Brown has been charged with first and second-degree assault while the 14 year old has been charged in juvenile court.

The video has been removed from YouTube due to “a violation of YouTube’s policy on shocking and disgusting content.”