Trio Of Tourists Charged With Assault After Carmine's Brawl

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Nearly three weeks after a brawl outside of Carmine's between a group of tourists and a hostess at the popular Upper West Side restaurant, three women have been charged with assault and criminal mischief, according to the New York Police Department.

Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44, Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, 21, and Sally Rechelle Lewis, 49, all Texas residents, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday for desk appearance tickets stemming from the Sept. 16 fight at Carmine's on Broadway near West 91st Street.

Each woman was given the same charges of assault and criminal mischief. The trio could spend as much as a year behind bars for attacking the hostess, Manhattan prosecutors said.

The hostess was hit in the face multiple times and treated outside the restaurant.

The incident in September put the Upper West Side in the spotlight as the story went viral both in the city and across the world.

Details around what exactly instigated the fight changed multiple times in the first few days, though.

The original police report provided to multiple publications, including Patch, said that the Carmine's hostess was attacked by three women from Texas after they were asked to show their vaccination card to eat indoors.

However, lawyers for both Carmine's and the three women confirmed to the New York Times two days later that the women did in fact provide vaccine documentation to the restaurant before walking inside.

The fight kicked off after two men who joined the group a few minutes later at the popular Upper West Side Italian restaurant did not provide proof of vaccination, the New York Times reported.

Justin Moore, a lawyer who at the time represented one of the three women, who are Black, told the Times that the hostess used a racial slur, spoke condescendingly to the patrons and suggested that their vaccination cards were fake.

Carmine's has denied to multiple publications that racism played a part in the altercation.

In the wake of that news, Black Lives Matter of Greater New York held a "Cancel Carmine's" rally outside the restaurant the following week.

Black Lives Matter protest happening outside of Carmine’s now on the Upper West Side. pic.twitter.com/o5Mc5mvdtX
— Gus Saltonstall (@GusSaltonstall) September 20, 2021

Read More: 'Cancel Carmine's' Rally Draws Crowd On The Upper West Side