Crime & Safety

McDonald's Assault Victims Hope To Move On

Chrissy Polis and Vicky Thoms have tried to put their lives back since the attack. They were in court Thursday to watch Teonna Brown plead guilty to charges related to the assault.

Chrissy Polis never asked to be a viral celebrity—she had it thrust upon her.

The 22-year-old transgender woman gained nationwide attention in April when she was assaulted by two teenagers while coming out of a women’s restroom at a McDonald’s in Rosedale.

The attack was recorded on an employee's cell phone and eventually posted on YouTube where it garnered hundreds of thousands of views. It also led to and a .

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Polis hopes her life can return to normal now that the older of the two attackers, , 19, pleaded guilty Thursday in Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson to one count of first-degree assault and one count of committing a hate crime.

According to the plea deal with prosecutors, Brown would be sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years suspended. Sentencing in the case is set for Sept. 13.

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Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said the 14-year-old in the case was found delinquent in juvenile court on July 1 of charges stemming from the attack on Polis and , a customer who was assaulted while trying to stop the beating.

Polis and Thoms were both seated in the courtroom as the plea deal was announced in front of Judge John G. Turnbull. Brown said little during the court proceedings.

However, Brown's lawyer, Timothy Knepp, said told the Baltimore Sun that his client "would be a very good candidate for probation" and has learned from her mistakes.

“I was really nervous about being here today and wasn’t sure I was going to come,” said Polis, who plans on addressing Brown during sentencing. “I just want to get my life back to normal.”

Thoms said after the proceedings on Thursday that she could not believe the hate she saw coming from Brown and the teenage girl during the attack. According to the plea deal, the attack began around 7:50 p.m. when Polis entered the McDonald’s, located on the 6300 block of Kenwood Avenue.

Polis went to use the women’s restroom, which led to Brown and the other girl to complain to the restaurant management that a man was using the women’s room.

The pair attacked Polis shortly thereafter as the two females repeatedly punched and kicked the victim. Brown then dragged Polis by her hair throughout the restaurant and continued to hit her.

Thoms entered the restaurant in the middle of the attack and attempted to intervene before the juvenile punched her in the face.

Polis eventually had a seizure before Brown and the juvenile left the McDonald’s after employees told them police were on the way.

“I’m glad to see Chrissy is doing a little bit better,” Thoms said. “I hope she can get it out of her mind and I hope I can get it out of my mind. You wake up one day and go to McDonald’s and the next thing you know it’s a nightmare.

“[Brown] is so young and I can’t understand how someone so young can be so hateful.”

Shellenberger said he was pleased with the plea deal being reached and believes the punishment to be just for Brown, who had no prior convictions. The maximum sentence Brown could receive is 25 years for the assault and 10 for the hate crime.

“Guilty pleas are always helpful because it brings closure in a quick period of time,” Shellenberger said. “It was also important to the victim that there be an admission of guilt. While we had a really strong case, anything could happen in trial or on appeal.”


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