“She Having A Seizure, Yo. … Police On Their Way. Y’All Better Get Out Of Here.”: McDonald’s Employee Takes Credit For Filming Beating While Doing Nothing To Help, 1 Girl Arrested, Another Pending, Police Investigate For “Hate Crime”
Apr 23, 2011 54 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
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A McDonald’s worker has taken credit for filming and uploading to YouTube the latest viral video to capture a brutal assault at a fast food restaurant.
The employee, identified as Vernon Hackett on social network accounts, posted the video clip to his YouTube page earlier this week. According to his Facebook page, the 22-year-old Hackett, pictured at right, has worked for McDonald’s since September 2009.
The April 18 assault, seen below, took place at a McDonald’s location on Kenwood Avenue in Rosedale, Maryland, a Baltimore suburb. According to the Baltimore County Police Department, a 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile in connection with the assault, while charges are pending against an 18-year-old woman. “The incident remains under investigation and the State’s Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case,” added investigators.
Police have identified the assault victim as a 22-year-old woman “who appeared to be having a seizure” when officers arrived at the McDonald’s at around 8 PM.
A manager at the Rosedale McDonald’s said she was “not allowed to speak to a reporter.” In a corporate statement this afternoon, McDonald’s said it was “shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchise,” and called the incident “unacceptable, disturbing and troubling.” The firm added, “We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter.”
Read the whole thing at The Smoking Gun
2. BALTV Baltimore:
Police Probe Videotaped Beating Posted Online
BALTIMORE — Baltimore County police are currently investigating a beating at a McDonald’s restaurant in Rosedale that was recorded and posted online.
The video was shot Monday evening and posted Thursday at WorldStarHipHip.com.
The disturbing video shows two black women beating up a white woman inside the McDonald’s restaurant in the 6300 block of Kenwood Avenue.
Baltimore County police said officers were called to the restaurant around 8 p.m. Monday after getting reports of a fight.
Officers said they found a 22-year-old woman who appeared to be having a seizure. Witnesses told police that the woman had been assaulted by two teens.
The fight appeared to start near a bathroom. The video shows the two culprits punching and kicking the victim. There is then a scene with one of the women dragging the victim across the floor, ripping what appears to be hair extensions or a wig from her head.
On the video, you can hear at least one employee yelling for the attack to stop.
Police charging documents show that another person tried to intervene and break up the assault, but the black women punched her in the face, causing her to fall over. Police said that woman declined medical assistance.
The man who is shooting the video appeared to have done nothing to help. On the video, he’s heard telling the attackers that the victim is seizing and that police are on the way.
Both assailants were later identified. Police said a 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile, while charges are still pending against an 18-year-old woman.
Police said the victim was taken to Franklin Square Hospital. Her condition hasn’t been released.
Police said they talked to the victim in the video, who said she had gotten into an argument with the suspects in the bathroom before the assault began. She said she didn’t know the women.
McDonald’s on Friday released a statement regarding the beating, saying, “We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling.
“McDonald’s strives to be a safe, welcoming environment for everyone who visits. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter.”
There is no word yet on what led to the incident.
Police said they’re still investigating, and the state’s attorney’s office is reviewing the case.
3. Baltimore Sun:
A video of a vicious beating at a Baltimore County McDonald’s restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on various websites and prompting the fast food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident.
The video shows two women – one of them a 14-year-old girl – repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee of the Rosedale restaurant and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men appear to be standing idly by.
Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim’s head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man’s voice tells the women to run because police are coming.
The three-minute clip was apparently first posted on YouTube, then taken down by administrators who said it violated the site’s policies. But it sprung back up on other sites and was ultimately linked from the popular Drudge Report, which gave it top billing for much of the day.
By mid-afternoon, the video had received 450,000 views on one site alone.
County police confirmed that the attack occurred April 18 in the 6300 block of Kenwood Ave. Police said the 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile, while charges were pending against an 18-year-old woman.
The victim suffered cuts to her mouth and face, and a police report said she was in “fair” condition.
The report classifies the attack as a “second degree assault” — one of the suspects said that the fight was “with a woman over using a bathroom.”
As the video spread online, McDonald’s acknowledged that the attack had occurred in a Baltimore restaurant and said they were working with local police.
“We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling,” the company said in a statement posted on its website. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter.”
State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said the racial dynamics of the incident – the attackers are black, and the victim is white – could result in hate crime charges.
“We just received this case, and the police department is continuing their investigation,” Shellenberger said. “If there is evidence that the crime was racially motivated, we will take a look at those charges and see if we meet those elements. We have the ability, if the facts are there, to upgrade the charges at a later date.”
The video begins with two women near a bathroom door kicking and hitting a woman who is lying on the ground. Viewers from across the country expressed shock at the sheer brutality of the video, and the racial dynamics of the attack drove much of the commentary on the sites that posted the clip.
An employee repeatedly tries to separate them, but the attackers continue to stomp and kick the victim’s head. People yell, “Stop! Stop!” to no avail, though others can be heard laughing. An older woman at one point also attempts to pull the attackers away, and is shoved.
About halfway through the three-minute clip, the attackers rip a wig off the victim and drag her by her hair to the front door. That is where the victim is sitting before a blow to the head causes an apparent seizure.
Throughout the attack, a man is filming and does not intervene. But when the victim appears to go into a seizure, he yells, “She having a seizure, yo. … Police on their way. Y’all better get out of here.”
Through a McDonald’s spokesman, the owner of the Rosedale restaurant released a statement. The chain said the owner and employees would not be made available for comment.
“I’m as shocked and disturbed by this incident as anyone would be. The behavior displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible,” said the franchise owner, Mitchell McPherson. “The safety of our customers is a top priority. We know the police were called immediately, and we are thoroughly investigating this matter.”
