Man bullies teen, then attacks restaurant worker who stood up for him, CA police say

Brooke Baitinger
·2 min read
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Police arrested a man they say attacked a worker who stood up to him when he reportedly bullied a teen with intellectual disabilities in a California restaurant.

The incident took place inside a Habit Burger Grill in November, and the 19-year-old worker has since lost her right eye due to the repeated blows to her face, police said.

Bianca Palomera worked as an assistant manager at the restaurant on Nov. 12 when she stepped in to protect the boy from bullying “because it was the right thing to do,” KRON4 reported. The outlet reported she told the bully, “You can just leave.”

Surveillance video from the restaurant shows Palomera speaking with the man, who then strikes her, footage from her sister and news outlets shows. He turns away from her as she stumbles, and she grabs onto his shoulder before he turns and repeatedly hits her in the face.

Isaac Carter-White, 20, faces charges of felony mayhem and aggravated assault causing great bodily harm, police said.

Antioch police expressed “their support and gratitude to the victim for helping a community member in need.”

According to an online fundraiser set up for Palomera’s medical expenses, she was rushed to a trauma center for emergency surgery, but her injuries were so severe that she lost her “right eye completely.”

After the surgery, she was in stable condition, the fundraiser stated.

Her older sister also posted the surveillance videos on her Facebook page and had asked the public for help identifying the people in the videos before Carter-White was arrested.

“It is an outrage that not only a man put a hand on a female. But to the degree it went to and the amount of damage it caused,” Erika Palomera said in the Facebook post. “She was only trying to do the right thing and stop a special needs person from being bullied.”

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