A Florida man who became an online sensation last year after fighting while dressed as the Easter Bunny has been arrested for a hit-and-run where he tried to use his costume to avoid capture.
Antoine McDonald, 21, hopped into overnight fame when a video went viral of him getting into a brawl with a man in Orlando while wearing his bunny costume on Easter Sunday.
Authorities said they had arrested McDonald after he was involved in a hit-and-run last week.
The self-proclaimed ‘Orlando Easter Bunny’ was driving a motorcycle through Orlando on January 16, when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a carport.
Antoine McDonald, 21, (above) was arrested after he was involved in a hit-and-run last week and tried to use his Easter Bunny costume to avoid capture
McDonald hopped into overnight fame when a video went viral of him getting into a brawl with a man in Orlando while wearing his bunny costume on Easter Sunday
McDonald then fled the scene, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The carport collapsed on top of a car in the driveway and the motorcycle hit a fence and flipped over, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
When officers went to McDonald’s address to arrest him, they found him hiding in the backseat of a car that was being driven down the street by his cousin.
McDonald was wearing the same Easter Bunny costume in an attempt to avoid detection and told officers to ‘Google’ him, police said.
‘I wasn’t in any crash. I’m the Orlando Easter bunny, Google it,’ he said.
McDonald also claimed he had already returned the motorcycle to the dealer because he would not give him a new tag, according to an arrest report.
When police went to arrest him for the hit-and-run on January 16, McDonald (above) was wearing the same Easter Bunny costume in an attempt to avoid detection and told officers to ‘Google’ him
In the report, officers said ‘[t]he bunny appeared to be alive’.
Police asked McDonald to remove his costume before they arrested him.
It’s a far cry from the ‘vigilante’ behavior the Orlando Easter Bunny became known for last year.
Footage of McDonald, dressed as the Easter Bunny, throwing punches outside of the SAK Comedy Lab in downtown Orlando in April went viral.
The bizarre brawl allegedly broke out after a man bumped into a woman and the two began to fight.
McDonald, dressed in the bunny costume, insisted he had no choice but to come to the woman’s aid after seeing her getting punched.
Witness Lindsey Edwards said he saw the man spit on the woman just before they began scuffling and McDonald rushed to her defense, according to WESH 2 News.
The Bunny was filmed dragging the man and punching him repeatedly in the back in the 2019 fight (above)
McDonald said he was out ‘bar hopping’ in the bunny suit with his cousin and his girlfriend when he saw the pair fighting on the ground.
As he tried to break up the fight the alleged attacker was able to get on top of the woman.
Eventually a passer-by and a police officer intervened and broke up the brawl.
McDonald said the officer who broke up the scuffle was ‘confused’ by the situation.
He told TMZ: ‘I saw him [the attacker] spit on her and I saw a fight breaking out, I just ran over there, I didn’t have time to ask anyone like, ”yo unzip me from the suit”.
‘I didn’t even check for cars, I just ran across the street. At first I was just trying to break it up, but then my attempt to break it up lead to the aggressor getting on top of her.
‘So then, I don’t know if I got a little upset, but I had to start punching him to get off of her.
Antoine McDonald was unmasked as the ‘heroic bunny’ after the clip was posted on Instagram and he was interviewed on TV stations (above)
Hopping in! After seeing the altercation between the man and woman, the Easter Bunny joins in, siding with the woman and attacking the man
Antoine McDonald (second right) holding his bunny suit with some of his friends who were with him the night he broke up the fight between a man and a woman in Florida on Easter Sunday
‘Honestly I didn’t know I was wearing the suit until afterwards, I was just ready to go. I’m pretty sure the cop was a little confused, like he didn’t know how to fill out the paperwork.
‘His words to me were, ”if I catch you in that suit fighting again I’m going to arrest you and that damn bunny”.
‘You never know if I see something like that happen again and I’m wearing the suit, I’m gonna be a vigilante.’
Days later footage of the fight boasted more than a million views.
After the video went viral McDonald set up an Instagram account documenting his media interviews and adventures, with the caption, ‘Bad Bunny’, ‘Hero Bunny’ and ‘Protecting the People’.
Following the latest escapades of the Orlando Easter Bunny, McDonald was taken to AdventHealth Altamonte Springs for leg and rib injuries sustained in the crash.
He is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage, driving with a suspended license and operating a motorcycle without a license.