Greenwich Village McDonald’s cashier, 31 year old Rayon McIntosh, was having an ordinary day before customer Denise Darbeau hauled off and slapped him.
Reportedly, Darbeau began cursing McIntosh after he questioned the authenticity of a $50 bill she handed him. Attempting to add injury to insult, after slapping McIntosh, Darbeau ran behind the counter as her friend, Rachael Edwards jumped over it. That’s when McIntosh delivered a super sized Mac attack by grabbing a metal rod and beating both women like he was tenderizing beef. The incident was captured on a cell phone camera by another customer.
Let me be perfectly clear when I say that I do not condone a man hitting a woman, but I also feel that any woman who throws the first punch against anyone, and especially against a man — unless she is Laila Ali — she had better be prepared for an a** whipping. That is apparently what both women got. One of them was left with a fractured skull and broken arm, the other suffered cuts. McIntosh was fired.
Judging from word of mouth and comments on various blogs, a number of people believe that McIntosh was wrongly fired by McDonalds when he was obviously defending himself. He had no way of knowing whether the bold women would pull a knife or gun.
Some people are also upset over the fact that a few stations including CNN did not initially show the slap rendered by Darbeau, choosing instead to edit that portion out of the video. They showed only the footage of McIntosh striking both women with the rod.
Before the incident McIntosh was just another Mickey D employee trying to earn a living. The fact that he was also a convicted felon, who had served 10 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter in 2000, apparently became an issue only after the incident which resulted in his being fired and locked up again; this time on charges of felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
He is currently being held under $40,000 bond. McIntosh has the support of his father and many people in cyber space. The incident has also prompted Facebook fans to create the Rayon McIntosh Defense Fund. Darbeau of Queens and Edwards of Brooklyn, both 24 years old, were reportedly drunk at the time and both were charged with menacing, trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Set the video below to full screen, closely watch the cashier and see what set him off.