Last week, all charges were dropped against the McDonald's cashier who used a metal rod to beat two customers who slapped him and then jumped over the counter at the West Village location in October. Rayon McIntosh, who served ten years for the manslaughter death of a friend in 2000, vowed to never work at a McDonald's again after the experience, but worried about finding new work after video of the incident went viral. But the Post reports that he's back on his feet: he’ll be distributing and marketing free restaurant booklets put out by a Harlem real-estate company. “I hope people don’t recognize me. I don’t want the attention. I’m glad to be back to work,” McIntosh told them.
This week, a jury voted to indict Denise Darbeau and Rachel Edwards, the two women who jumped over the counter, on burglary charges. The 24-year-old women were initially charged with misdemeanor trespass in the West 3rd Street McDonald's altercation which took place on October 13. But those charges were increased to burglary, which meant that they allegedly entered the fast food restaurant with intent to commit a crime. Darbeau suffered a fractured skull and a broken right arm in the incident, while Edwards received a gash on her face.
McIntosh was more forgiving than the jury—he told the Daily News he doesn't think they deserve jail: “I do think they need to be punished—but I don’t wish jail on anyone...They wanted me to go to jail, but it didn’t end up that way. I’m still not going to talk bad about them.” McIntosh told DNAInfo he was excited about his first Christmas at home since getting out of prison, and hoped Darbeau and Edwards learn something from the incident: "I would say to go about your life with respect, just like you would like to get respect. The best resolution is for all of us to learn something from this, to value our freedom and to respect others."
To recap the incident once more: the fight started when Darbeau tried to pay for their food with a $50 bill; that worker wanted to check the authenticity, as was store policy. The two women allegedly taunted McIntosh, who brought the order to the counter, calling him a "bitch ass n--ga," and saying "your mother's a bitch." McIntosh said in an interview that Darbeau spat at him, threatened to "cut me up," then came across the counter and slapped him. When Edwards jumped across to join in, instinct kicked in: "I was being attacked by aggressive people I didn't know," said McIntosh. "I was just defending myself. They came in and went crazy on me." You can see the rest of the incident play out in the video below:
