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Texas Women Accused Of Assaulting Hostess Over Vaccine Mandate Say They Were Smeared By Carmine's
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Sep 20, 2021
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PAUL QUITORIANO/GOTHAMIST
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Sep 20, 2021
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Carmine's, the famed Italian restaurant, is facing protests and allegations of discrimination, following conflicting accounts of a brawl that resulted in multiple arrests outside the Upper West Side outpost last week.
On Friday, police arrested three patrons on assault charges after the restaurant claimed that they had refused to show proof of vaccination at the door, then attacked an employee who declined to seat them.
But Emma Novak, a spokesperson for the crisis management firm Trident DMG, walked back that account on behalf of the restaurant on Monday, acknowledging that all three women presented their vaccination cards and were permitted to sit inside.
After the women were seated, two male members of the party arrived and, according to Novak, were not able to provide vaccination proof. The female members of the party — Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44; Rankin's 21-year-old niece Tyonnie Keshay Rankin; and Sally Rechelle Lewis, 49 — then launched "an entirely unprovoked, brutal attack on our hosts," according to Novak.
The three women, all of whom are Black and visiting the city from Texas, dispute that account. Security footage obtained and described by the New York Times — but not yet released — also suggests a more complicated narrative.
Justin Moore, an attorney for Dr. Rankin, said that the 24-year-old hostess was rude to the three women, then called them a racial slur as tensions escalated over the arrival of the rest of the party. He said that while two of the men did not have photo identification, all were vaccinated and ultimately permitted to enter the restaurant before the altercation.
"The overarching point is that the shoving match had nothing to do with the vaccine and had everything to do with an extremely rude and apparently racist hostess shouting epithets and derogatory remarks," Moore told Gothamist/WNYC. "They were following the mandate. They support the vaccine policy."
Moore noted that security camera footage reportedly shows the diners leaving the restaurant after an argument with the hostess, then being led back inside by a manager.
The video then depicts "the hostess brushing past the women as she exits, at which point the women appear to do a double take before pursuing her out the door," according to the Times.
Novak, the Carmine's rep, said the restaurant was not releasing the security footage "out of respect for the D.A.'s prosecution," though a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance clarified that they had not asked them to do so.
A statement attributed to the restaurant described the allegations of racism as an "extremely cynical ploy to try to excuse wanton violence."
Cell phone video of the fight shows Carmine's employees appearing to restrain the hostess, as one of the female patrons throws a punch.
Police gave all three diners desk appearance tickets for misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief. Moore said that his client, Dr. Rankin, had no physical contact with the hosts.
"She was involved in trying to pull the member of her party away from the shoving match," he said.
Hawk Newsome, a local Black Lives Matter activist, said he planned to hold a protest outside Carmine's on Monday afternoon.
He accused the restaurant of "running with the vaccine story when they knew it wasn't true," while adding that police had only arrested the three women because they were Black.
"It wasn’t like they hit this [hostess] and she balled up in a defensive position. She was fighting them. She’d been aggressive the whole time," Newsome said. "But the police took the word of the non-Black person over the Black people. That's the NYPD for you."
Tagged
vaccine mandate
pandemic
Upper West Side
carmine's
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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