A couple was convicted late this week for a violent attack at Sesame Place last summer that gained national attention.
Troy McCoy, 40, and Shakerra Bonds, 32, both of Bronx, New York, were accused of striking the then-17-year-old employee at the Middletown Township theme park on August 9, 2020. The assault on the boy came after a dispute over wearing a mask as part of the park and state’s COVID-19 mitigation measures.
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McCoy was found guilty Friday evening by a jury of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault, harassment, and disorderly conduct. Bonds was found guilty of simple assault and disorderly conduct. McCoy was found not guilty of conspiracy, and Bonds was found not guilty of simple assault for striking another employee and on a charge of conspiracy.
During their trial this week, there were some inconsistencies in testimony, but Deputy District Attorney AJ Garabedian told jurors during closing arguments that the teen was just doing his job when the two attacked him. McCoy is accused of the more violent assault that sent the boy to the ground.
“[The teen] was just doing his job,” Garabedian said to the jury before they went to deliberate.
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The prosecution made the case that McCoy had come into contact with the teen earlier in the day when he asked him to properly wear a mask. McCoy allegedly shot back that the teen was disrespecting him. The group met later at a ride when the teen was covering for a co-worker who had taken a bathroom break. At the ride, McCoy and Bonds got into it with the 17 year old, and as the teen who had only worked at Sesame Place for a few weeks tried to deescalate, the duo attacked him.
One Sesame Place employee testified that McCoy’s attack looked like a “Hulk smash” to the teen’s head.
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Testimony in court indicated that McCoy put his hand on the neck of the injured teen and Bonds also struck another employee with her elbow.
The jury saw video of McCoy, Bonds, and the adults and kids that went with them to Sesame Place quickly walking out of the gate following the attack as security and a police officer worked to figure out what happened.
Defense attorneys said the fact the group was leaving the park and talking to security showed they were not fleeing, while the prosecution noted how fast they were leaving and that they didn’t tell the full story.
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Previous testimony leaves some unanswered questions after some witnesses who worked at Sesame Place said the teen never touched the woman. Garabedian stated the boy may have used his hands to create space, but the woman did not testify that she was hurt or fell to the ground.
McCoy’s attorney Brooks Thompson, of McMahon, Lentz & Thompson, and Bonds’ attorney Keith McAndrews pointed out to the jury that witness accounts had changed.
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Thompson told the court McCoy felt the teen was disrespectful to him, and he took the teen down after he saw him interacting with Bonds, his fiancé and the mother to his kids.
McAndrews said Bonds was trying to “act as a peacemaker,” adding her punch to the teen’s face was a form of “lawfully defending herself.”
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“It’s not about a mask. It’s about them,” Garabedian said, looking at McCoy and Bonds. “It’s about a grown man sucker punching a 17 year old, leaving him with serious injuries.”
Garabedian said in court that the attack left the teen with a broken jaw in two places, causing it to be wired shut and forcing him to eat through a syringe for two weeks. He noted the teen still has complications from the attack that hospitalized him.
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McCoy, who had a previous dangerous encounter with police, was nabbed by the U.S. Marshal Service last August after the investigation by Middletown Township police and New York authorities. When deputy marshals went to arrest McCoy in the Bronx, he resisted and barricaded himself inside his home. Federal law enforcement made their way through the barricade and used a Taser to subdue the defendant, according to police.
The Sesame Place attack gained national press attention last summer when it broke.
The verdict was handed down after a four-day trial before President Judge Wallace Bateman Jr. at the Bucks County Justice Center in Doylestown Borough.
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Following the verdict, Bateman ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for the pair.
Sentencing will take place at a future date.
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The judge revoked McCoy’s bail and ordered Bonds’ bail to be increased to 10 percent of $250,000.
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