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Easter Bunny gallantly hops to the rescue of woman in Florida brawl

The altercation was quickly broken up by a police officer who was on patrol in the downtown Orlando neighborhood.
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A man in an Easter Bunny suit hopped to the defense of a woman and started throwing punches during a brawl Sunday night in Orlando, Florida, that was captured on video.

Bunny bystander Antoine McDonald insisted that he had no choice but to join the fray after seeing the woman getting punched.

And witness Lindsey Edwards said he saw the man spit on the woman just before they began scuffling and McDonald came to her defense.

"So I got over there so I could break up the fight, and with me trying to break up the fight, he got on top of her and hit her, so I had to try a different method, basically, to break up the fight, which actually worked," McDonald told NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando.

When Josh Manes, night manager of the Underground Public House on South Orange Avenue, heard a commotion in front of his bar, he ran outside and saw that the costumed man had jumped in and started raining blows on the man who was on the ground fighting the woman.

"I was at a loss for words," Manes told NBC News. "I guess that's how Sundays, fun days go around here in Orlando. I can't be too surprised."

The altercation was quickly broken up by an Orlando police officer on patrol in the downtown neighborhood, which is filled with bars and restaurants. It was unclear why the man and the woman were fighting.

When the bunny was peeled off the man, he was apparently still hopped up on adrenaline as he bounced around throwing shadow punches, the video posted by Instagram user "workfth" showed.

In moments immediately after the fight broke up, police initially thought the whole brouhaha had been staged.

"The officer came up to me and said, 'If you do that again I'm going to arrest you and the damned bunny suit,'" McDonald recalled.

But eventually police came to understand that McDonald was just a good Samaritan.

"The cops broke them up, they shook the hand of the guy in the bunny suit and let him go," Manes, 28, said. "He was just partying, enjoying his Easter Sunday."

Sgt. David Baker, an Orlando police spokesman, confirmed that the fight happened at about 10:30 p.m. and that no one was arrested.