I cant believe self defense is even called into question considering the video footage. Justified Beatdown IMO - Sounds like a Penis Vs Vagina thing going on. Nevermind there were two aggresive female attackers. Poor Rayon, He is black, born with a penis and now defied the feminist logic. He dared to strike back. Story from:
http://www.dnainfo.com/20111018/greenwich-village-soho/women-beaten-by-mcdonalds-cook-verbally-attacked-workers-witness-saysOctober 18, 2011 10:02pm | By Shayna Jacobs, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A woman seen in a shocking video being beaten at a Greenwich Village McDonald's by an employee sparked the fight by hurling racist and profane insults at two staffers before the violent altercation, a witness testified on Tuesday.
McDonald's cashier Michael Joseph, 18, said customer Denise Darbeau, 24, became enraged when a cashier named "Junior" took her $50 bill to the manager's office to confirm its authenticity before allowing her to pay for her meal.
"Bitch ass n--ga, checking my money like it's fake," Darbeau taunted the cashier, according to Joseph's testimony at Tuesday's brief hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court during which a judge decided whether McIntosh would be held on bail while prosecutors seek an indictment.
Rayon McIntosh at a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court on Oct. 18, 2011. (Pool photo by Steven Hirsch)
"She was calling him Mexican and [saying] 'f--k you,'" Joseph testified on the witness stand Tuesday.
At the hearing, Joseph recounted the incident first reported by DNAinfo at the West 3rd Street restaurant last week in which a McDonald's employee was caught on cellphone camera attacking a pair of unruly customers who jumped the counter.
Rayon McIntosh, 31, allegedly beat Darbeau and her friend, Rachel Edwards, 24, after a war of words that began when the women were picking up their order in the early hours of Oct. 13. He was charged with felony assault and criminal weapons possession, while the women were charged with misdemeanor trespass.
Joseph said he was working behind one of the store's cash registers when Darbeau ordered her chicken "extra crispy," and demanded to know if it was prepared that way before she got the order.
While the women were waiting for their food, Joseph's manager hopped over the counter to stop a drunk woman from trying to use the restroom, but Darbeau thought he was starting a fight with her, Joseph said.
"She got in her defense mode and was like, 'Oh, you want to fight?'" he testified.
The manager replied he did not want any trouble before Darbeau began to rip into McIntosh as he brought her food order to the counter where she and Edwards were standing.
"F--k you — I hope you get deported. Your mother's a b--ch," Darbeau allegedly told McIntosh, according to the witness. "So then he replies, 'No, your mother is a b--ch,' and she smacks him."
The slap can be seen in the video footage just before the attack escalates.
Joseph testified that McIntosh started walking away to the back of the kitchen and was taken by surprise when Darbeau leapt over the counter to chase him.
McIntosh then picked up a three-foot-long metal rod used to clean the griddle and, as the video shows, started striking the women until they fell to the ground, the witness said.
Prosecutors acknowledged Tuesday that the women triggered the fight by taunting the staff and then leaping over the counter.
"There's no question that Ms. Darbeau acted in a totally inappropriate manner," Assistant District Attorney Jamie Mendoza said. "Not only did she curse out the hardworking employees at the McDonald's working the graveyard shift, but then she did go over the counter into an area which is prohibited to the public."
However, McIntosh's response was "unreasonable," and the women should not have been attacked so brutally, prosecutors said. Darbeau suffered a fractured skull, according to prosecutors and her family.
"The defendant could have handled the situation in a manner which did not lead him to repeatedly strike Ms. Darbeau and Ms. Edwards," Mendoza added.
But McIntosh's attorney, Theodore Herlich, argued Tuesday that it was a case of self-defense, as his actions were clearly intended to defend himself against a pair of women out to attack him.
"It's very clear [the two women] were coming after my client, who had in effect retreated to the rear part [of the kitchen] and was not seeking a confrontation," Herlich said, adding that his client didn't know if the women were armed at the time.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gerald Lebovits ruled that there was probable cause to hold McIntosh in custody while prosecutors take more time to present his felony case to a grand jury, which they are generally required to do within five days of an arrest, in order to keep the suspect in custody.
Video of the incident, which rapidly spread online, was played in court, but the excerpt did not include the moment as the women jumped over the counter. Prosecutors blamed the missing footage on a glitch in the recording.
McIntosh and Edwards are due back in court in December, while Darbeau is expected next month.
Darbeau's father told DNAinfo Tuesday that while he believes his daughter made a mistake when she jumped the counter, she did not deserve to be beaten until she had skull fractures and required 20 staples. Darbeau is still recovering in the hospital, he said." END of Article
