Woman Charged For Brutal Beating Caught On Tape

JUNE 26--Police today charged a female McDonald’s employee for the vicious beating of a New Jersey woman whose two-year-old small son tried to stop the attack, a video of which went viral this week.  

Latia Harris, 25, has been named in a criminal complaint accusing her of aggravated assault and two counts of making terroristic threats, according to a court filing. The brutal attack occurred Tuesday evening in an open field behind a McDonald’s in Salem, a southwestern New Jersey city.

Harris, pictured in the above driver’s license photo, was wearing her McDonald’s uniform as she punched, kicked, and spat on the 27-year-old victim, who was “covered in blood” when emergency service workers arrived at the scene (she was subsequently transported to a local hospital for treatment).

A video of the attack was posted to Facebook, where it was copied by Salem police. Investigators reported that the victim told them that “Tia who works at McDonalds” assaulted her and accused her of spreading rumors about her and her McDonald’s manager.

As seen on the video, during the assault Harris threatened to kick the victim’s son in the face. As his mother was being beaten, the boy kicked Harris several times in the leg. At the conclusion of the assault, Harris “spat on the victim and walked away asking those recording the incident not to post it on social media,” according to a police statement.

The complaint alleges that Harris also threatened to shoot the victim “while punching her about the face.”

Harris, who remains at large, has not reported to work since the June 24 incident. When she is apprehended, Harris will be booked into jail on the three felony counts, the bail for which has already been set at $35,000. (3 pages)