That's real feminism! Waitress bodyslams butt grabbing customer inside Georgia restaurant
A young Savannah waitress body-slammed a man after he grabbed her behind while walking past her. It has been revealed now that the man in question is in a relationship and father to two younger daughters.
The whole incident was captured on CCTV. The footage shows 31-year-old Ryan Cherwinski groping 21-year-old Emelia Holden as he walks by her at Vinnie Van Go-Go's in Savannah, Georgia.
Daily Mail revealed that Cherwinski, who hails from Palm Bay, Florida, is in a long-term relationship with Erica Martin, who is the mother of their twin baby girls.
Both him and Erica have been together for 11 years. Sadly for her, when her partner groped their server and was subsequently arrested, she was present.
Holden was quick to respond, as can be seen in the footage. She grabbed him by the arm and slammed him to the ground on the opposite side.
Cherwinski is now facing criminal charges after one of the girl's co-workers called the Savannah Police Department who quickly responded.
On June 30, police reviewed the surveillance footage provided by the restaurant and subsequently arrested him. They handed him over to the Chatham County Sheriff's Office.
The 31-year-old father was released on July 2 on a $2,500 bail after spending two nights in prison.
He has been charged with one count of sexual battery.
One can see Holden taking an order from a table and subsequently walking over to an outdoor stock cart, as seen in the footage that is circulating on social media.
As soon as she bends over a little to reach for something, Cherwinski is seen walking behind the woman and groping her butt.
He then walks casually ahead without a care, and that's when Holden pulls his t-shirt, puts him into a headlock, and slams him down to the ground.
In a conversation with Inside Edition, the young woman says she scolded him and uttered 'a lot of things I can't repeat,' but does not regret it one bit.
"I don't care who you are," she said. "You have no right to disrespect me."
As Holden tosses Cherwinski in the footage, the food cart hits a chair and a man sitting looks behind, oblivious to what is happening. Just after, another man is seen casually making his way over while holding a drink, seemingly to understand what happened.
Cherwinski was booked the following day.
Holden, who is being touted as a feminist firebrand across the internet, is using her fame to raise funds for cat shelters via a GoFundMe page.
"Recently a video of me went viral and I’ve been getting a lot of attention for it," wrote Holden on her website. "I’d like to take this opportunity to give back to something that means a great deal to me, CATS!"
As of now, she has raised around $7,000 of her $20,000 goal after launching the fundraiser page.
The famed waitress had a conversation with People about the incident.
"I looked at him and I said, 'You don’t touch me, motherf*****!'" she said.
"I didn’t even think, I just reacted. I don’t know how I reacted the way I did. I’ve never done that before."
Holden revealed she previously thought it was a friend of hers playing around with her as a joke by grabbing her.
"When I felt that happen, my first thought was that it was one of my friends… it was a really intimate touch," she said.
"His hand went further than it should have so I was thinking, 'There’s no way a stranger just did that.'"
On the contrary, Cherwinski told the responding officers that he had been just trying to move her out of the way so that he could pass through, she said.
"The guy claimed that he was just trying to push me out of the way and, 'Oh, I barely touched you,'" said Holden.
"Once the police saw the video, they immediately arrested him. There was no doubt that he did it."
Holden said she felt satisfied when law enforcement authorities arrested the father-of-two. “It actually made me really happy,” she told People. “I knew something like that would happen eventually. I’m just happy that it was handled.”
The footage of the incident has garnered over 260,000 views on YouTube since it was posted. She said she never expected to gain so much attention but it glad that her actions helped inspire women across the world.
“I’m not glad that it happened, but I’m glad that it’s had such a positive outcome,” she tells People, saying she received numerous Facebook messages with praise from women everywhere.
“I’m glad that other women can see this and know that you can stand up for yourself. You also have the right to wear whatever you want without having to worry about being groped.”
“It’s nice to know that I have empowered other women,” says Holden.