Beating of Chrissy Lee Polis

Chrissy Lee Polis is a transgender woman who was beaten on April 18, 2011, at a McDonald's in Rosedale, Maryland, just northeast of the city limits of Baltimore. A video of the beating was posted online and went viral. The attack had been conducted by teenage girls, aged 14 and 19. They were both prosecuted. The case heightened awareness of violence against transgender people in Maryland and protests were conducted.

Beating of Chrissy Lee Polis
Part of violence against LGBT people in the United States
LocationRosedale, Maryland, U.S.
Coordinates39.338778°N 76.505543°W / 39.338778; -76.505543
DateApril 18, 2011 (2011-04-18)
c. 8:00 p.m. EDT (UTC-05:00)
Attack type
Beating, hate crime
VictimChrissy Lee Polis, aged 22
PerpetratorsTeonna Monae Brown and unnamed 14-year-old girl
MotiveTransphobia

A state law that had protections for transgender people failed to pass shortly before the attack. Gov. Martin O'Malley said he intended to work with the legislature on a bill to provide more protections for transgender people. In addition, Howard County passed a county law protecting transgender people within its boundaries.

The incident

Shortly before 8 p.m. 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, (39.338778°N 76.505543°W / 39.338778; -76.505543)[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 person started attacking Polis. One of the attackers was 14 years old. A McDonald's employee, Vernon Hackett, filmed the beating and the attempts of another employee and a customer to intervene in the attack.[5][2] Other McDonald's employees in the video are heard to be laughing.[6] Hackett was fired on April 23, after making transphobic remarks about Polis on Facebook.[4]

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.[7] She received cuts to the face and mouth. Polis stated that she believed that being transgender was to blame for the assault.[3]

The video

The three-minute video of the incident was posted online and became popular. Justin Fenton of The Baltimore Sun said that the video was "apparently" first posted on YouTube but was later taken down.[8] The same video later was posted to other websites,[8] including WorldStar HipHop.[9] On one website, the video received over 500,000 views by the early evening of April 22, 2012.[8]

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."[8] McDonald's issued a statement, saying that it fired the employee who had taped the incident.[2]

Criminal charges and sentences

After the attack, a pro-transgender advocacy group, Equality Maryland,[8] asked the county officials to consider investigating the case to determine if it was a hate crime.[10] 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.[8]

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,[11] in the Baltimore County Circuit Court.[12] Brown pleaded guilty to one count of first degree assault and one count of a hate crime.[11]

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.[11] Brown was given the sentence sought by prosecutors.[12] Some advocates for transgender people argued that the sentence was not severe enough.[13]

Aftermath

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".[9]

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.[14] Shortly before the beating had occurred, a proposed Maryland law that would have added protections for transgender people failed to pass the legislature. The modified version that was passed did not have these protections.[15]

By November 2011 a bill to add protections for transgender people began circulating in the government of Howard County, Maryland.[15] On Monday, December 5, 2011, Howard County passed the protections for transgender people into county law.[12]

See also

References
  1. Jiang, Weijia. "Video Shows Woman Being Beaten At Baltimore Co. McDonald’s." CBS Baltimore. April 22, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  2. Fenton, Justin. "Rosedale McDonald's beating goes viral, victim speaks out." The Baltimore Sun. April 24, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  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] Archived February 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine." Metro Weekly. April 23, 2011. Retrieved on November 13, 2012.
  5. McDonald's Beating Video: Was it a Hate Crime?, retrieved 2020-01-28
  6. 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.
  7. Wilchins, Riki (2017-10-01). Burn the Binary!: Selected Writings on the Politics of Trans, Genderqueer and Nonbinary. Riverdale Avenue Books LLC. ISBN 978-1-62601-406-0.
  8. Fenton, Justin. "Baltimore County McDonald's beating video goes viral." The Baltimore Sun. April 22, 2012. Retrieved on May 17, 2012.
  9. Zurawick, David. "Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with violent viral videos Archived 2013-04-13 at the Wayback Machine." The Baltimore Sun. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  10. "Girl, 14, Faces Charges In Videotaped Beating Archived 2013-02-09 at archive.today." WBAL-TV. April 23, 2011. Retrieved on May 17, 2012.
  11. Siegel, Andrea F. "Teen pleads guilty to beating transgender woman at Rosedale McDonald's Archived 2011-10-20 at the Wayback Machine." The Baltimore Sun. August 4, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  12. Hermann, Peter. "Victim of transgender assault at Rosedale McDonald's charged with disorderly conduct Archived 2013-05-30 at the Wayback Machine." The Baltimore Sun. December 7, 2011. Retrieved on May 16, 2012.
  13. Siegel, Andrea F. "Teen gets five years for attack on transgender woman at McDonald's Archived 2011-11-30 at the Wayback Machine." The Baltimore Sun. September 13, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  14. Conner, Cheryl. "Hundreds turnout to protest McDonald's beating Archived April 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." ABC 2. April 25, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2012.
  15. Anderson, Jessica (November 20, 2011). "Howard weighs gender identity bill after statewide law fails – Baltimore Sun". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
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