Via CBS
It was a scandalous hate crime caught on camera that grabbed national headlines. Now one of the two young women accused of beating a transgender woman at a McDonalds learns her punishment. Convicted of a hate crime and first degree assault. Five years in prison.
Over and over again, two teenage girls attack and beat Chrissy Polis inside a Baltimore County McDonalds until she goes into a seizure — all while a laughing McDonald’s employee records the vicious attack on his cell phone.
The Youtube video sparked community outrage and landed 19-year-old Teonna Brown and her 14-year-old accomplice in jail. Brown now sentenced to five years in prison.
Polis, who is transgender, chose not to appear in court for the sentencing. But her hero Vicki Thoms was. “I just wanted to make sure that justice was served,” Thoms said. She can be seen in the video trying to stop the attack on Polis. She ending up punched in the eye herself.
“I thought she was going to die,” Thoms said. In court, Brown tearfully offered remorse saying “I’m sorry. My mother did not raise me like this. I would really like to apologize to the victim, Miss Chrissy Polis.”
But that apology not accepted according to a letter Polis wrote to the judge. “I felt like I was going to die that day,” the letter reads. “I continue to suffer seizures, bouts of crying, mental anguish and anxiety. I fear being alone. I have flashbacks about the attacks. I do not forgive them for what they did to me. “
Prosecutors say hate was clearly the motivation for the attack. “I don’t really care who the victim is,” said Scott Shellenberger. “This wasn’t about a political statement. This was about prosecuting people for a heinous crime that they committed.” The criminal case is over, but the civil case is just beginning. Polis has filed suit against McDonald’s for failing to stop the beating and because it was its employee who video taped the incident while laughing about it.
So far a settlement has not been reached. The other suspect in the case already made an admission to the beating and remains locked up in juvenile detention.
It was a scandalous hate crime caught on camera that grabbed national headlines. Now one of the two young women accused of beating a transgender woman at a McDonalds learns her punishment. Convicted of a hate crime and first degree assault. Five years in prison.
Over and over again, two teenage girls attack and beat Chrissy Polis inside a Baltimore County McDonalds until she goes into a seizure — all while a laughing McDonald’s employee records the vicious attack on his cell phone.
The Youtube video sparked community outrage and landed 19-year-old Teonna Brown and her 14-year-old accomplice in jail. Brown now sentenced to five years in prison.
Polis, who is transgender, chose not to appear in court for the sentencing. But her hero Vicki Thoms was. “I just wanted to make sure that justice was served,” Thoms said. She can be seen in the video trying to stop the attack on Polis. She ending up punched in the eye herself.
“I thought she was going to die,” Thoms said. In court, Brown tearfully offered remorse saying “I’m sorry. My mother did not raise me like this. I would really like to apologize to the victim, Miss Chrissy Polis.”
But that apology not accepted according to a letter Polis wrote to the judge. “I felt like I was going to die that day,” the letter reads. “I continue to suffer seizures, bouts of crying, mental anguish and anxiety. I fear being alone. I have flashbacks about the attacks. I do not forgive them for what they did to me. “
Prosecutors say hate was clearly the motivation for the attack. “I don’t really care who the victim is,” said Scott Shellenberger. “This wasn’t about a political statement. This was about prosecuting people for a heinous crime that they committed.” The criminal case is over, but the civil case is just beginning. Polis has filed suit against McDonald’s for failing to stop the beating and because it was its employee who video taped the incident while laughing about it.
So far a settlement has not been reached. The other suspect in the case already made an admission to the beating and remains locked up in juvenile detention.
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