Credit: Carmines NYC
Carmines-Interior
NEW YORK, NY (77WABC) — Police say the hostess of a restaurant on the Upper West Side was assaulted after asking three women from out of town to show proof of vaccination.
The incident was reported at Carmine’s Restaurant at 2450 Broadway around 5 p.m. Thursday. Cops say the tourists assaulted the 24-year-old worker at the neighborhood mainstay Carmine’s at about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Sally Rechelle Lewis, 49, of Houston and Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44, and Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, 21, both of Humble, allegedly punched and struck the hostess multiple times and broke her necklace.
The trio were all arrested on assault and criminal mischief charges, according to the NYPD. The three women were taken into custody and given desk appearance tickets. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
“Our goal is to serve our customers great food, offer excellent service and hospitality while keeping our employees and customers safe as we comply with the government mandated COVID-19 protocols,” said a spokesperson from Carmine’s Italian Restaurant.
“It’s a shocking and tragic situation when one of our valued employees is assaulted for doing their job – as required by city policies – and trying to make a living. Our focus right now is caring for our employee and the rest of our restaurant family. We are a family-style restaurant, and this is the absolute last experience any of our employees should ever endure and any customers witness.”
Certain 3rd party delivery companies argue that if they give a restaurant access to a restaurants’ own customer information it’s somehow a privacy issue, but when those same companies make a restaurant pay for it, it’s not??? These companies care about money and market control.
— Andrew Rigie (@AndrewRigie) September 15, 2021
“Assaulting a restaurant worker for doing their job is abhorrent and must be punished,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance. “We’re calling on the City and State of New York to immediately increase penalties for assaulting restaurant workers in New York City in conjunction with enforcement of Covid-19 protocols.”
