New details emerge over NYC restaurant brawl

New details emerge over NYC restaurant brawl

A sign informs customers they must show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to dine indoors at Carmine's Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

(AP) — New details have emerged about a brawl outside a popular New York City restaurant between several out-of-town visitors and an employee over the restaurant’s requirement that the guests show proof of vaccination.

Attorneys for Carmine’s and for three women from Texas facing charges in connection with the melee last Thursday told the New York Times the women had provided documentation of COVID-19 vaccinations but the altercation escalated after two men who joined the party didn’t have proof.

The restaurant hostess, who is white, seen being struck in a video shot by an onlooker suggested the vaccination cards were fake. An attorney for the women tells the Times the hostess spoke in a condescending way to the group, who are Black, and used a racial slur.

The attorney, Justin Moore, calls the situation “mutual combat.”

Carolyn Richmond, an attorney representing Carmine’s, denies the claim. In an email to The Times she says, “nothing about this incident suggests race was an issue.”

Photo: A sign informs customers they must show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to dine indoors at Carmine’s Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)