3 people arrested for allegedly assaulting an NYC restaurant hostess after she asked a group of diners visiting from Texas to show proof they had been vaccinated before seating them. https://t.co/EQV1QFS2le

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 17, 2021

These Texans assaulting a NYC restaurant hostess over a vaccine requirement — Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin and Sally Rechelle Lewis — sound like real Trump-voting redneck straight white males.

The original NYT version of the story begins:

Tourists Attack N.Y.C. Restaurant Hostess Over Vaccine Proof, Police Say

Enforcement of a city policy requiring proof of vaccination to dine indoors began Monday. Days later, a hostess at Carmine’s was assaulted after asking three women for their vaccine cards, the police said.

By Ashley Wong
Sept. 17, 2021, 11:57 a.m. ET

A hostess at an Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan was assaulted by three tourists from Texas after she asked to see their proof of vaccination on Thursday, the police said, four days after enforcement of the city’s vaccine mandate for indoor diners began.

The altercation occurred after a hostess at the restaurant, Carmine’s, asked the tourists to show her proof they were vaccinated against Covid-19 before entering for dinner, the police said. New York City requires people to prove they have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine before dining indoors.

The tourists, who were identified as Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44, and Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, 21, of Humble, Texas, and Sally Rechelle Lewis, 49, of Houston, began to argue with the hostess over the requirement, the police said. It was not immediately clear if they displayed proof of vaccination.

As the argument escalated, the women began punching the hostess, who is 24, breaking her necklace during the assault. The hostess was left bruised and scratched up by the attack, the police said.

But by now the NYT’s sub-headline reads:

A lawyer for the tourists said their proof of vaccination had been questioned “unjustifiably” because they are Black and denied that they had tried to “forcefully violate” the requirement that they show it.

[Comment at Unz.com]