NYC Hostess Called Houston Women The 'N-Word': Report

HOUSTON, TX — There are new details in an incident at a New York City restaurant that resulted in three Houston-area women being charged with assault last week.

The three women were accused of assaulting a hostess at Carmine's, an Italian restaurant in the city's Upper West Side, after the hostess asked for proof of vaccination from COVID-19, according to New York City police. The women, two from Humble and one from Houston, repeatedly punched the hostess's face and broke her necklace in the incident.

Justin Moore, one of the women's lawyer, told The New York Times the incident began differently.

The three women provided proof of vaccination and entered the restaurant, and the issue arose when two guests joined the party several minutes later but couldn't provide proof of vaccination, Moore said. Lawyers for Carmine's confirmed that sequence of events to The Times.

The hostess also used derogatory language, including the "n-word," toward the three women, who are Black, Moore told The Times.

The restaurant denied Moore's claims that racism factored into the incident.

"Nothing about this incident suggests race was an issue," Carolyn Richmond, a lawyer for Carmine's, told The Times.

Black Lives Matter organizers held a protest near the restaurant Monday, chanting "Cancel Carmine's" and arguing that the vaccine mandate gives police incentive to target Black people.