The Easter Bunny was dealing out something different instead of chocolate eggs on Sunday, after video caught a man dressed up as a bunny involved in an apparent fight in Florida.
Video of the incident showed a man dressed in the suit running in as a man and a woman allegedly appeared to be fighting.
As the “bunny” tries to break up the fight, the man appears to start throwing punches at the woman, causing the costumed man to begin throwing punches at him.
Antoine McDonald, who claimed to be the man in the costume, told NBC-affiliate WESH 2 News that he was out bar-hopping when he saw the two people fighting. He had tried to jump in and pull the man off the woman, but then the situation changed.
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“I got over there so I could break up the fight and with me trying to break up the fight, he got on top of her and hit her, so I had to try a different method, basically, to break up the fight, which actually worked,”
According to Fox News affiliate Fox 35, an Instagram user who did not want to provide their name alleged the initial fight occurred when a man bumped into a woman.
Lindsey Edwards told NBC that just before the bunny got involved, he saw the man allegedly spit on the woman.
McDonald said he’s not normally a violent person.
“I am the type of person to avoid fights by any means necessary, but in that situation, I would fight any day,” he told News 6.
For most who witnessed it, the fight was unexpected. Josh Manes, night manager of the nearby Underground Public House, said he heard the commotion and ran outside to find the normally docile “Easter Bunny” allegedly delivering punches to get the other man off the woman.
“I was at a loss for words,” Manes told NBC News. “I guess that’s how Sundays — fun days — go around here in Orlando. I can’t be too surprised.”
After a few seconds, a police officer is seen on camera breaking up the fight.
McDonald told NBC the officer briefly spoke with him afterwards.
“The officer came up to me and said, ‘If you do that again, I’m going to arrest you and the damned bunny suit,'” he said.
It is not yet known if the fight was possibly a publicity stunt, but McDonald stressed it was the “real deal” and he’s a stand-up type of rabbit. He also said that while being arrested did cross his mind, it would have been worth it.
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“I didn’t run. I said, ‘You know what? This man deserved it.’ You know, if I have to be arrested for this to prove a point that this shouldn’t be happening, then so be it,” he said.
Calls made by Global News to Orlando police were not returned, but WESH 2 News reports no arrests were made.
On Tuesday, however, a tweet revealed the “bunny” has had some run ins with law enforcement.
Police in South Brunswick, N.J. tweeted McDonald had a warrant issued for him in October 2018 for car burglaries in the city and failed to appear in court and the warrant remains active.
It’s also not the first time McDonald has allegedly assumed the identity of someone else, as WESH reports he has also been arrested for identity theft in Florida, and was a person of interest in a carjacking case and two armed robberies in the state.
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