The Sun's Nick Madigan reports:
Baltimore County police on Monday released additional details of an attack last week on a transgender woman in a fast-food restaurant, during which another woman, they said, was assaulted after attempting to intervene.
The incident prompted widespread condemnation after a video, captured by an employee of the McDonald's at which it occurred, went viral on the Internet. Two females, one 14 years old, the other 18, have been charged in the attack.
The woman who intervened, Vicky L. Thoms, "attempted to separate the suspects" from the 22-year-old transgender woman, Chrissy Lee Polis, according to a court document that provides details of the attack. Thoms is seen above in a picture by The Sun's Erica L. Green. Details from her interview are coming soon.
Darick Jones, the restaurant's manager, told police that he saw Thoms being punched in the face, "which caused her to become disoriented." The suspects then pushed Thoms away while the attack on Polis continued, the document said.
Polis then "fell to the ground after struggling to fend off the suspects and the two suspects fled the area," according to the document.
More details:
Interviewed by the police, Thoms confirmed she was punched in the face during the melee, which apparently erupted after Polis had attempted to use the women's bathroom. The police officer, identified only as Sgt. George, observed that Thoms had "redness around her right eye, which is consistent with someone punching her in the face."
The older suspect, Teonna Monae Brown, who lives on the 2000 block of Kelbourne Road in Rosedale, was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree assault, which is classified as a felony, and two counts of second-degree assault, which are misdemeanors. She was incarcerated at the Baltimore County Detention Center in lieu of $150,000 bail.
The 14-year-old was charged as a juvenile. She was interviewed by police after being identified in the video, and acknowledged she had been in the restaurant with Brown and that they had gotten "into a fight with a woman over using the bathroom."
Police also interviewed Deshawn Brown, the sister of the older suspect. She said her sister had admitted assaulting a woman at the McDonald's at 6315 Kenwood Ave.
A rally was planned for 7 p.m. Monday at the restaurant to raise awareness of hate crimes, according to civil-rights activists and other organizers of the event.
The video of the assault in the restaurant April 18 prompted hundreds of thousands of views on various websites. The video shows Polis being kicked and punched in the head by two people until she appears to have a seizure. Although two people tried to intervene, others can be seen standing and watching, and some are laughing.