When the video first burst onto social media, it seemed too good to check. A man dressed in an Easter bunny suit waded into a confrontation between two apparent street dwellers, taking the side of a young woman who was being hit and struggled with by a man.
The Easter bunny in a fight in Orlando pic.twitter.com/dgAV5dx7Wp
— Brother Corleone (@BrotherCorleone) April 22, 2019
The Easter bunny’s vigilante ride was in Orlando, Florida on Easter Sunday evening. The Tampa Bay Times recounts the backstory:
McDonald said he and a few friends were out for a Sunday Funday. It being Easter, they made the obvious choice to hit the bars while taking turns wearing a bunny costume. As they neared SAK Comedy Lab on South Orange Avenue, McDonald hopped to action.
“I saw him spit on her and then I saw, you know like a fight break out,” he told TMZ. “I just ran over there.”
McDonald said he ran over, not even thinking that he was still in the suit, with hopes of breaking up the fight. But when that led to the man getting on top of the woman, he started laying into the man with a few literal rabbit punches.
The police showed up quickly and got the fight stopped. It wasn’t a stretch to conclude that the bunny was a younger man, and one who had thrown a few punches before in his life. But according to the Tampa Bay Times, no arrests were made, and the bunny, still in his costume, was allowed to go on his way.
He might still be enjoying the anonymous acclaim on social media if he had remained, well, anonymous. Tampa Bay Times again:
But after the video went viral, McDonald spoke to multiple media outlets, including TMZ and Orlando’s WKMG. He even created the Instagram profile, badbunnyof19.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwlXh8BhTTI/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
And so the long arm of the law closed in on him. The Easter bunny in this case is Mr. Antoine McDonald, 20, with rap sheets in Delaware, New Jersey, and Florida for robbery, conspiracy, evidence tampering, use of false ID, and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. He is wanted in New Jersey in connection with breaking into and burglarizing a vehicle. He is well known to the authorities in Pasco County (Florida, where Orlando is located); they’ve interacted with him over spitting in a 7-11 store, reckless driving, and a carjacking and two armed robberies (he hasn’t been charged so far with the latter three, which occurred recently).
McDonald is clearly taking the optimistic view. Tampa Bay Times: “He says he’s not a violent person.”
