Sun. April 24, 2011
Baltimore, Md. -
Late Sunday night, Baltimore (Maryland) County police announced that 18-year-old woman Teonna Monae Brown is being charged in the brutal attack on transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis.
Police said Brown and a 14-year-old girl, who is being charged as a juvenile, ran into victim Chrissy Lee Polis in the bathroom of a McDonalds on April 18.
The suspects realized that Polis is transgender, and can be heard on the tape screaming "that's a man" as they slapped her, punched her, pulled her hair, pushed her to the floor, and drug her around the restaurant.
They were also apparently incensed that Polis had talked with one of their boyfriends.
The attack was videotaped by a McDonald's employee who did nothing to help the victim and then posted the video on the Internet. That employee has been fired.
Meanwhile, Polis is trying to transform this into an opportunity to educate the public about what it's like to be transgender, and is speaking to television and print reporters in the Baltimore area about the many times she's felt threatened.
Prosecutors are considering filing additional hate charges against Brown and the juvenile suspect. Brown, who was arrested earlier this year for attacking someone else, is currently being held on $150,000 bail.
A Facebook page of support for Chrissy Lee Polis had attracted more than a thousand fans by Sunday evening.
Brown's Facebook page can be found here. She has some 800 friends.
Related: View the disturbing video of the attack
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