A shopping mall Easter Bunny and a NJ dad are both in jail following a regrettable incident at the Newport Centre mall in Jersey City on Sunday evening. The fight between the Easter Bunny and the father of a young girl gained widespread media attention after it was captured on video by an amazed mall shopper.
Natalie Morianda, the mother of the 1-year-old child, says the Easter Bunny dropped her daughter on her face as soon as their photo was taken. She tells ABC 7 that her husband, Juan Jimenez-Guerrero, 44, "was defending his daughter, not even me because I'm a grown person, but he was defending our innocent baby, she fell face first, and you know, it's not fine that he could be in jail and my daughter could lose her father for the next five to 10 years of her life."
During the melee, Jimenez-Guerrero was bitten so severely on one of his fingers that he needed 14 stitches. "That bunny became evil out of nowhere," Morianda declares.
CBS 2 reports that both Jimenez-Guerrero and 22-year-old Kasim Charles, a.k.a. the Easter Bunny, had outstanding warrants. (Charles had a warrant for his arrest for fare hopping, heh, according to police.) Both men both charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct.
In a statement, the company that operates the mall's Easter display said, "The safety of guests and cast members is of utmost importance to the Noerr Programs, which operates and manages the Easter Bunny photo program. We will continue to investigate this incident and take appropriate action. In the meantime, we are cooperating with the Jersey City Police Department who are leading this investigation and have assigned other employees to fill the role of Bunny."
Not to excuse anyone's behavior here, but everyone should be aware that working as a costumed holiday entertainer at an indoor shopping mall has a way of breaking a man. You just never know when the Easter Bunny or Santa is going to snap. Approach with caution, or avoid altogether. Secretly they just want to be left alone.
