SF Weekly readers might remember the horrific beating of a transgender woman inside a Maryland McDonald's in April that drew national attention. The suspect, 19-year-old Teonna Monae Brown, was arrested shortly after the beating was recorded. Brown, who plead guilty to first degree assault and a hate crime, was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday, according to new outlets.
Brown shed some tears of her own in court, apologizing to 22-year-old Chrissy Lee Polis, who was pulled from a bathroom, dragged by her hair, and severely beaten while McDonald's employees stood by -- one of whom videoed the incident.
"I'm sorry. My mother did not raise me like this. I would really like to apologize to the victim, Miss Chrissy Polis," Brown said in court.
Video of the attack went viral, and people across the nation signed onto a petition with San Francisco-based Change.org, demanding McDonald's fire the employees who did not help Polis, but instead egged on the attackers.
Polis did not appear in court when Brown was sentenced, but instead issued the following letter:
I felt like I was going to die that day. I continue tosuffer seizures, bouts of crying, mental anguish and anxiety. I fear
being alone. I have flashbacks about the attacks. I do not forgive them
for what they did to me.
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