Arrest made in case of woman, 19, who lost eye after being punched in head while standing up for special-needs boy. She told her attacker to stop bullying him.



Readers of TheBlaze may recall reading about a 19-year-old good Samaritan who lost an eye after being punched in head while standing up for a special-needs boy in November. Bianca Palomera told her attacker to stop bullying the boy — and it cost her.

Well, police earlier this month said they arrested Isaac White-Carter, 20, in connection with the crime, KRON-TV reported. White-Carter was charged with two felonies: mayhem and assault causing great bodily injury, police told the station.

Image source: KRON-TV video screenshot

What's the background?

Palomera was working as an assistant manager in a Habit Burger Grill in Antioch, California, on Nov. 12 when she said she saw a man harassing a special-needs boy who was standing alone, the station said.

The boy’s older brother worked at the restaurant, and Palomera told KRON she intervened because it was the right thing to do, telling the bully, “You can just leave.”

Palomera told the station the man quickly became hostile toward her, yelling anti-Mexican slurs and punching her multiple times.

“An employee was punched in the face multiple times after protecting an individual with an intellectual disability from being bullied,” police said, according to KRON.

\u201cBreaking: @AntiochPolice said they arrested the man who brutally attacked an employee of The Habit Burger Grill when she tried to stop him from bullying a boy with special needs. Suspect ID'd as Isaac White-Carter, 20, of Hayward. \nFull story: https://t.co/fG9WBvIJbG\u201d
— Amy Larson (@Amy Larson) 1670281638

The culprit was with a group of other men, and they all departed in a gray BMW SUV, the station said.

“After he had attacked me, the other people he was with, they just collected their food and left, like nothing had happened,” Palomera said, according to KRON.

Palomera was rushed to a hospital trauma center, the station said: “I thought I was crying, but then I realized that it was blood going down my cheek onto my shirt. At the ER, when they opened it, I asked, ‘Did you open my eye?’ And that’s kind of when I knew I couldn’t see. It was just black.”

Image source: KRON-TV video screenshot

White-Carter admitted to police that he was at the restaurant on the day of the attack and told investigators “his side of the story,” police told KRON, adding that he could face hate crime charges, as police added that "there were statements made during the attack that will be reviewed to see if hate crime charges apply."

'Don’t be afraid to step up for somebody'

A GoFundMe page organized by Palomera’s sister has raised more than $225,000 as of Tuesday; the money will help pay for the victim’s medical bills, the station said.

Palomera told KRON that despite her life-altering injury, she hopes others will stand up to bullies: “Don’t be afraid to step up for somebody, whether you know them or not. If you won’t do it, no one else will."

Good Samaritan, 19, loses eye while standing up for boy with special needs. Creep punched her twice in the head after she told him to stop bullying boy.



Even after getting punched in the head and losing her right eye, Bianca Palomera told KTVU-TV she wouldn't undo standing up against a man she saw bullying a special-needs boy last weekend.

"Deep down, there will always be a little regret, but I wouldn’t take it back," the 19 year old added to the station.

Image source: KTVU-TV video screenshot

What happened?

Palomera was working her job — assistant manager of a Habit Burger in Antioch, California — last Saturday afternoon when she noticed a man in the restaurant bullying a special-needs teen, KTVU said.

"I hear the threats going, him having a problem, saying 'who are you looking at, stop looking that way,'" Palomera recounted to the station.

So she stood up for the boy and confronted his tormenter.

"'Hey, you know, what you’re doing is wrong. It’s not right at all. He’s special needs. He doesn’t know what he’s doing,'" Palomera recalled telling him, KTVU said.

Her confrontation didn't back the man down; instead he escalated things.

Surveillance video shows the much larger man getting right in Palomera’s face. The station said he yelled slurs at her. She was seen jawing back at him.

Image source: KTVU-TV video screenshot

Then he landed a brutal punch to her left cheek.

"I didn’t expect him to punch me at all," Palomera recalled to station.

She briefly slumped on a chair then stood up and went after the attacker — but he swung harder and hit her apparently in the head.

Palomera told KTVU she believes that second punch is the one that destroyed her eye — but the station said she initially didn't know how badly she was hurt.

"I just remember grabbing my eye," Palomera told KTVU. "I thought I was crying at first, but then after I saw that I had blood dripping down my shirt, you know, down my cheek."

'Sometimes I think it’s all like a nightmare'

Doctors performed emergency surgery on her eye but couldn’t save it, the station said.

"Sometimes I think it’s all like a nightmare and try to open my eye, but regardless, I can’t see anything," Palomera told KTVU.

Antioch police are investigating and trying to identify her attacker, the station said, adding that he was seen leaving the restaurant others in a BMW X3.

"We’re very proud of her," Palomera's sister Erika told KTVU. "She did the right thing. Her heart was there when she did it. Just that we feel like she’s getting the short end of the stick."

Palomera noted to the station, "At the end of the day, if you won’t do it, nobody else will. I felt like I had to step in."