Beating of Chrissy Lee Polis

Chrissy Lee Polis was a transgender woman who was beaten at a McDonald's in Rosedale, Maryland in Baltimore County on April 18, 2011. The video of the beating was posted online and became a viral video. Both suspects of the beating were prosecuted. The beating led to awareness of violence against transgender people in Maryland, and Howard County, Maryland passed a county law protecting transgender people.

The incident

At almost 8 PM on April 18, 2011,[1] two teenagers beat a transgender woman at a McDonald's in Rosedale, an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, in Greater Baltimore.[2] The McDonald's, located at the 6300 block of Kenwood Avenue,[3] was in proximity to the Golden Ring Mall.[4]

The victim, Chrissy Lee Polis, was 22 at the time of the attack.[2] Polis, then a resident of Baltimore,[3] said that she was going to use a restroom, when a female individual spat in her face. Then she and another female individual started attacking Polis. One of the attackers was 14 years old. One McDonald's employee filmed the beating and the attempts of another employee and a customer trying to intervene in the attack.[2] The other McDonald's employees in the video are heard to be laughing.[5]

The beating lasted for several minutes. Weijia Jiang of CBS Baltimore said "Then after a powerful blow to the head, the victim appears to have a violent seizure, and as she bleeds from the mouth, spectators warn the attackers to flee before cops arrive."[1] Polis said that she had been intoxicated during the attack, and that she had a seizure. Polis received cuts to the face and mouth. Polis, a Caucasian, stated that she believed that being transgender was to blame for the assault. Both of the perpetrators were African American.[3]

The video

The three-minute video of the incident was posted online and became viral. Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun said that the video was "apparently" first posted on YouTube but was later taken down.[6] The same video later reappeared on other websites,[6] including WorldStar HipHop.[7] On one website the video received over 500,000 views by the early evening of April 22, 2012. The Drudge Report linked to the video and gave it a prominent status for much of the day it was posted. Fenton said "The video received widespread attention part because of the racial dynamics of the attack – the attackers were black, and the victim is white."[6] McDonald's issued a statement, saying that it fired the employee who had taped the incident on Saturday April 23, 2011.[2]

Criminal charges and sentences

After the attack, a pro-transgender advocacy group, Equality Maryland,[6] asked the county officials to consider investigating the case to determine if it was a hate crime.[8] Scott D. Shellenberger, an attorney for the state of Maryland, said that hate crime charges may result from the attack; at the time he was not aware of the gender identity of the victim.[6]

On July 1, 2011, the 14-year-old admitted responsibility in the juvenile criminal system. The other attacker 19-year-old Teonna Monae Brown, pleaded guilty to her role in the attack on Thursday August 4, 2011,[9] in the Baltimore County Circuit Court.[10] Brown pleaded guilty to one count of first degree assault and one count of a hate crime. Prosecutors sought to give Brown a 10-year sentence, with 5 of those years suspended. The maximum possible sentence for all of the crimes committed would have been 35 years.[9] Brown was given the sentence sought by prosecutors.[10] Some advocates for transgender people argued that the sentence was not severe enough.[11] In 2010 Brown had been charged for an assault she had perpetrated at the same McDonald's.[12]

As of January 2014, Brown is incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women.[13]

Aftermath

Polis said that as a result of the attack, she became fearful of going outside.[14] David Zurawick of The Baltimore Sun said that the posting of the video publicized "the vulnerability and lack of protection for transgendered citizens in Baltimore".[15] The week after the attack, hundreds of people started a protest against the incident. Some organizations representing transgender people stated that they wished to use the incident to highlight violence against transgender people.[16] Shortly before the beating had occurred, a proposed Maryland law that would have added protections for transgender people did not pass the legislature, and the modified version that did pass did not have these protections.[17] By November 2011 a bill to add protections for transgender people began circulating in the government of Howard County, Maryland.[18] On Monday, December 5, 2011, Howard County passed the protections for transgender people into county law.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jiang, Weijia. "Video Shows Woman Being Beaten At Baltimore Co. McDonald’s." CBS Baltimore. April 22, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Fenton, Justin. "Rosedale McDonald's beating goes viral, victim speaks out." Baltimore Sun. April 24, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Rosen, Jill. "Victim of McDonald's beating speaks out." The Baltimore Sun. April 24, 2011. Retrieved on May 16, 2012. "Polis, who is white, believes race may have also been a factor in her attack— both the assailants were black, according to the police report."
  4. ↑ duy. "The Smoking Gun identifies beaten transgender woman; McDonald's employee calls her 'a man' faking seizure [video]." Metro Weekly. April 23, 2011. Retrieved on November 13, 2012.
  5. ↑ Martinez, Edicio. "Suspects in beating of transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis could face hate crime charges." CBS/WJZ. April 26, 2011. Retrieved on May 16, 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Fenton, Justin. "Baltimore County McDonald's beating video goes viral." The Baltimore Sun. April 22, 2012. Retrieved on May 17, 2012.
  7. ↑ Zurawick, David. "Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with violent viral videos." Baltimore Sun. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Girl, 14, Faces Charges In Videotaped Beating." WBAL-TV. April 23, 2011. Retrieved on May 17, 2012.
  9. 1 2 Siegel, Andrea F. "Teen pleads guilty to beating transgender woman at Rosedale McDonald's." Baltimore Sun. August 4, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 Hermann, Peter. "Victim of transgender assault at Rosedale McDonald's charged with disorderly conduct." Baltimore Sun. December 7, 2011. Retrieved on May 16, 2012.
  11. ↑ Siegel, Andrea F. "Teen gets five years for attack on transgender woman at McDonald's." Baltimore Sun. September 13, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  12. ↑ Daily Mail Reporter. "Revealed: The face of the woman accused of brutal McDonald's beating... as it emerges she was arrested for assault last year at the SAME restaurant." Daily Mail. April 26, 2011. Retrieved on May 17, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Brown, Teonna". Maryland DOC Inmate Locator. Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014.
  14. ↑ Bentley, Paul. "'Everyone sat there and watched me get hurt': Victim of McDonald's beating speaks out as fast-food giant goes into damage control." The Daily Mail. April 24, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  15. ↑ Zurawick, David. "Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with violent viral videos." The Baltimore Sun. March 23, 2012. p. 2. Retrieved on November 8, 2012.
  16. ↑ Conner, Cheryl. "Hundreds turnout to protest McDonald's beating." ABC 2. April 25, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  17. ↑ Anderson, Jessica. "Howard weighs gender identity bill after statewide law fails." The Baltimore Sun. November 20, 2011. 2. Retrieved on May 16, 2012.
  18. ↑ Anderson, Jessica. "Howard weighs gender identity bill after statewide law fails." The Baltimore Sun. November 20, 2011. 1. Retrieved on May 16, 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.