Yesterday, Easter evening, a person dressed in a rabbit costume jumped into a fight on an Orlando sidewalk and started throwing punches.  Only in Florida. 

So, is the rascally rabbit guilty of a crime? 

So, right away the clip shows a fight in progress.  The key point from the first 5 seconds is that the woman in the black definitely has the upper-hand.  The man is on his back on the ground and the woman has got his hair and hits him at least once before the bunny get involved.

Now in the 5-25 second mark is where the bunny is going to have some problems.  He jumps in and starts throwing punches at the man who is on the ground.  Now, to the bunny’s credit, he stops when the cop shows up but then even after the cop arrives you can see the woman throw another punch – she is acting the aggressor.

Florida Law on the use of force to defend another is, Statute Section 776.012, commonly known as the Stand your Ground law.  The law says that you may use non-deadly force in order to defend another from the imminent use of unlawful force.  In other words, the Bunny could jump in and stop this fight if he was protecting the woman from a man who was beating her up. 

The problem is that the video clip shows the exact opposite.  The guy was getting pretty roughly beat up by the lady.  Therefore Stand Your Ground doesn’t come into play.

Conclusion

Unless there is something the video didn’t show that happened before the Bunny got involved, then the Bunny likely committed an act of battery and could be charged.

Note: Props to the Easter Bunny for the post-fight moves and bro-shake.  But the moral of the story is:  If you are the Easter Bunny, don’t be egged on into a fight. Also, let us know if the Easter Bunny ever tries to run you over with a car.