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Customer-Bashing McDonald's Cashier Says He Was Just Defending Himself: "I'm Not A Heartless Person"

Ben Yakas

Published Oct 22, 2011

Modified Oct 22, 2011

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Ben Yakas

Published Oct 22, 2011

Modified Oct 22, 2011

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The McDonald's cashier who used a metal rod to beat up two customers who slapped him and then jumped over the counter at the West Village location sat down for an exclusive jailhouse interview with the Daily News today. Rayon McIntosh gave his version of events for the first time, and defended himself and the actions which may have left one woman with permanent brain damage: "I was just working at my job when I was attacked for no reason. I'm not a heartless person," he said.

McIntosh said that victims Denise Darbeau and Rachel Edwards came in to the West Village McDonald's angry: "I tried to keep things calm as best I could...I was not looking for trouble. The trouble found me. People are portraying me as a vicious attacker." The fight started when Darbeau tried to pay for their food with a $50 bill, and McIntosh wanted to check the authenticity, as was store policy. "She started saying nasty things to me," McIntosh said. "She said, 'Oh, you think my s--t is fake?' ... She started saying, 'Suck my d--k.' She called my mother a whore."

McIntosh says she then spat at him, threatened to "cut me up," came across the counter and slapped him. When Edwards jumped across too to join in, McIntosh says 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:

McIntosh, who served ten years for the manslaughter death of a friend in 2000, has been charged with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon for using the metal rod to hit Darbeau and Edwards; Darbeau's skull was fractured and she may have brain damage. McIntosh did not explain in the interview why he started to hit the women a second time after stopping, and Darbeau's father was enraged about that: "I don't want to hear about self-defense...Although she was culpable, the attack itself was vicious and it shouldn't have happened. When he hit my daughter, she was out the first time. There was no reason to hit her again."

Tagged

beating

denise darbeau

jailhouse interview

mcdonald's

rayon mcintosh

self-defense

west village

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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