A woman who was videotaped being beaten at a Baltimore McDonald's on Monday has spoken out about the attack.
The beating was "definitely a hate crime," Chrissy Lee Polis told the Baltimore Sun.
Polis said to the paper:
"They said, 'That's a dude, that's a dude and she's in the female bathroom,'" said Chrissy Lee Polis, who's 22 and said she stopped at the Rosedale restaurant to use the restroom. "They spit in my face."
Polis said that she has been afraid to leave her home after the attack.
According to the victim, she was aware that a McDonald's employee was video taping her, and had asked him to stop. Polis also said in the interview that she was intoxicated during the time of the attack.
On Saturday, the owner of the restaurant franchise said that the employee that made the video was no longer working there.
Polis told the Sun that she had a sex change operation, and had been the victim of discrimination because of her sexual identity in the past.
She said that watching the video was "like walking out of the closet all over again." She suffered cuts to her mouth and face, and said she suffered a seizure.
Baltimore police told the Associated Press that an 18-year-old woman arrested in the case has been charged with assault and a 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile.
A spokesperson for Baltimore police said the department was working with the state's attorney general to determine whether more charges would be filed. "Generally when it comes to cases that involve racial, religious, ethnic, or sexual orientation from an investigative standpoint," Lt. Robert McCullough told the AP, "we approach the case from the perspective of the victim."
The video showing the attack is here.
