Fugitive convicted in downtown McDonald's assault arrested

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A woman convicted in an assault outside a downtown McDonald's that left a man paralyzed was arrested after she failed to appear to serve her sentence, officials announced Friday. 

The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office said Roneese Davis has been on the "most wanted" list since the end of March after she failed to comply with a sentencing order. 

Davis, a McDonald's employee, was charged with aggravated assault after a viral video showed her punching a man in the back of his head outside the restaurant in 2019, knocking him unconscious and leaving him paralyzed. 

The sheriff's office said she went to trial and was convicted of a lesser offense of simple assault and was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months of confinement, but didn't show up to serve her sentence. 

Deputies found her outside a home on Kennedy Avenue on the North Side and arrested her Friday evening, the sheriff's office said. 

Police said Davis and another McDonald's employee tried to intervene in an argument between an unknown male and the victim, along with his girlfriend. The victim's girlfriend continued to argue outside, and when the victim tried to break up the fight, Davis punched him, causing him to fall face-first onto the pavement. 

Davis was taken to the Allegheny County Jail where deputies say she will begin her sentence.