Teonna Brown pleads guilty in beating attack of transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis
Fri. August 5, 2011 5:19 PM by OnTopMag.com
Baltimore, MD -
Teonna Monae Brown on Thursday pleaded guilty in the beating of a Chrissy Lee Polis, a transgender woman.
Brown, 19, pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the April assault on Polis, 22, at a McDonald's in suburban Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reported.
The teenager is charged with one count of first-degree assault and one hate crime count.
A 3-minute video allegedly showing Polis being viciously kicked, punched and dragged by Brown and a 14-year-old girl went viral. In the video, one employee and a patron attempt to intervene, but most of the witnesses stand idly by and several men can be heard laughing in the background. Toward the end of the video, Polis appears to suffer a seizure after one of the suspects kicks her in the head.
The name of the second suspect charged in the attack has not been released because the charges were filed in juvenile court.
Prosecutors say they'll seek a prison sentence for Brown of 10 years with five years suspended.
Brown's lawyer, Timothy Knepp, said his client "has a great deal of remorse."
The fight was prompted by Polis' use of using a women's restroom.
"They said, 'That's a dude, that's a dude and she's in the female bathroom,'" Polis told the paper. "They spit in my face."
"I knew they were taping me; I told the guy to stop," she added. "They didn't help me. They didn't do nothing for me."
Brown, 19, pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the April assault on Polis, 22, at a McDonald's in suburban Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reported.
The teenager is charged with one count of first-degree assault and one hate crime count.
A 3-minute video allegedly showing Polis being viciously kicked, punched and dragged by Brown and a 14-year-old girl went viral. In the video, one employee and a patron attempt to intervene, but most of the witnesses stand idly by and several men can be heard laughing in the background. Toward the end of the video, Polis appears to suffer a seizure after one of the suspects kicks her in the head.
The name of the second suspect charged in the attack has not been released because the charges were filed in juvenile court.
Prosecutors say they'll seek a prison sentence for Brown of 10 years with five years suspended.
Brown's lawyer, Timothy Knepp, said his client "has a great deal of remorse."
The fight was prompted by Polis' use of using a women's restroom.
"They said, 'That's a dude, that's a dude and she's in the female bathroom,'" Polis told the paper. "They spit in my face."
"I knew they were taping me; I told the guy to stop," she added. "They didn't help me. They didn't do nothing for me."
Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine