Brawling Bunny In Easter Viral Video Has Criminal Record: Sheriff

ZEPHYRHILLS, FL — The cotton-tailed crusader seen in a viral video throwing punches at a man in downtown Orlando Easter Sunday is no saint, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Antoine Tyrkee ONeil McDonald, 20, of Berra Drive in Zephyrhills has a criminal record.

Nevertheless, McDonald said his actions caught on video Sunday were purely altruistic. He said he was defending a woman who was being abused.

McDonald said he bought the bunny costume a few months ago and decided to wear it for fun when he and some friends headed to downtown Orlando April 21 for an evening of bar hopping.

Around 10:30 p.m. near SAKS Comedy Club at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Pine Street, he saw a fight break out between a couple.

McDonald said he usually avoids fights but couldn't just stand by when a woman was being abused right in front of him.

"The guy was, I don't know if he was bullying her or what. So then I see him spit on her and she starts hitting him and everything," McDonald said in an interview on Monday.

"I was just going in to break it up (the fight between the couple) but he kept hitting her and that's when I made it my problem," said McDonald. "I didn't expect it to go that far. I was just breaking up the fight."

Lindsey Edwards happened to be in the area and began videotaping the ludicrous scene on his cell phone as the Easter bunny improbably exchanged punches with the man.

"The Easter bunny, ha ha ha," Edwards is heard on the video he later posted on his Instagram page, mr_mosthated21. "I got it all, bro. He was shakin. The Easter bunny was shakin."

Less than a minute later, an Orlando Police bicycle cop arrived and broke up the fight.

"No injuries were reported and no parties expressed a desire to press charges," said Sgt. David Baker of the Orlando Police Department.

When Edwards posted his brawling bunny video on Instagram and the media picked up on it, McDonald came forward on Monday with the admission that he was the man in the bunny suit.

He was subsequently interviewed by TV News6 of Orange County and other media outlets.

Although McDonald played the hero on Easter Sunday, that hasn't always been the case.

An arrest report released by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Tuesday showed McDonald was in trouble with the law just a few months ago.

On Jan. 30, he was arrested and charged with identity theft. According to the sheriff's office, on Jan. 29 McDonald went to Rides for You Auto Sales at 34140 State Road 54 in Zephyrhills and used a fake Florida driver's license under the name Hudhayfuh Roberts to rent a U-Haul truck.

While checking with the National Crime Information Center, Pasco detectives discovered there was a warrant for McDonald's arrest out of New Jersey for failure to appear.

McDonald, who hails from New Brunswick, New Jersey, was caught on video burglarizing a car in 2018 and failed to show up for his scheduled court appearance. He is also listed as a person of interest in two armed robberies that took place in New Jersey on New Year's Day 2017. During one of the armed robberies, the robber pulled a firearm from a fanny pack he was wearing and pointed it at the victim.

McDonald happened to be wearing a fanny pack when Pasco County detectives caught up with him exiting the fraudulently rented U-Haul truck in the Wesley Chapel Walmart parking lot on Jan. 30. Fearing the fanny pack might contain a gun, the detectives approached McDonald with firearms drawn and ordered him to lay face down on the pavement. There was no gun in the fanny pack but it did contain the fraudulent driver's license.

When interviewed by Pasco Sheriff's detectives, McDonald admitted to using the fraudulent driver's license to rent the U-Haul, rent a Camaro at Tampa International Airport and to gamble at the Hard Rock Casino in Hillsborough County.

In his interview with the media, McDonald said it did occur to him that he could be arrested for assault after defending the woman in downtown Orlando Sunday night.

"The thought went through my head when the cop came over but, you know, I didn't leave. I didn't run. I said, 'You know what? This man deserved it.' You know, if I have to be arrested for this to prove a point that this shouldn't be happening, then so be it," he said.

Related story: Easter Bunny To Rescue: Florida Fight Draws Holiday Hero

Editor's Note: Patch has removed the embed of the video from Lindsey Edwards' Instagram page because ViralHog now owns the rights to the video.