The spooky season, especially Halloween night, can often cause people to act a bit wild. But one monkey has given new meaning to how wild things can turn out. A monkey reportedly bit and had to be pried off of a child who was visiting a haunted house being put on by the animal’s owner – and coworker, it seems.
Now, let’s meet the monkey making headlines…
The monkey is owned by Danielle Thomas, a former stripper who goes by the name of Pole Assassin and is dating a first-year University of Texas special teams coach named Jeff Banks.
Early reports indicated that the monkey belongs to Banks but is actually Thomas’ emotional support animal, or so she says. After the attack, Thomas turned to social media to clarify that the monkey, named Gia, was an “emotional support animal who [is] not to be touched.”
The monkey attack became national news after a USA Today reporter, Tom Campbell, learned that Gia, the white-faced capuchin monkey attacked a young child on Halloween while trick-or-treating.
Campbell broke the story via a tweet on Twitter that proclaimed, “I’m hearing a report from a credible source that Texas Longhorns Special Teams Coach Jeff Banks’s monkey allegedly attacked and seriously hurt a young Trick-or-treater last night on Halloween. The monkey’s jaws apparently had to be pried off the small child.”
Fast forward, a lawsuit has now been filed against Longhorns special teams coordinator Jeff Banks and his stripper girlfriend.
The suit is called “‘Amy Clinkenbeard; Casey Clinkenbeard, individually and as next friend of a minor v. Danielle Thomas, aka “The Pole Assassin”.
Here’s what the lawsuit details:
“Plaintiffs’ minor child was trick-or-treating with friends when they were invited to defendant Danielle Thomas’s home for a haunted house. Afterwards, the children were taken to a monkey that Thomas kept in her backyard and told the monkey was trained to give high fives.”
“Minor plaintiff attempted to high five the monkey, but the animal aggressively bit his hand and caused injuries. Thomas refused to provide vaccination records for her monkey and later falsely stated on social media that minor plaintiff did not have permission to be on the property and then had her friend go on the Bobby Bones Show to five a false version of the events.”
“Danielle Thomas’s actions ignited a media firestorm including articles on the New York Post, Fox, Barstool, Yahoo and countless other which then further spread through social media.”
Danielle began responding to the viral story and while she denied the severity of the attack, seemingly confirmed that a child was bitten by her monkey. She then deleted her Twitter account.
Danielle defended her “emotional support” monkey, claiming that the “11/12 year old child should know better then to enter someone[‘s] yard without permission.”
Now, she will have to fight it out in court.