Cops hunting five teenage girls in vicious Queens attack of Wendy's employee Michelle Ortiz

'Animals acted better than they acted that night,' Wendy's employee Michelle Ortiz says.

Vicious Attack on Wendy's Worker: MyFoxNY.com

Cops are hunting five teenage girls accused of pummeling a Wendy's employee in a Queens attack that was posted on YouTube.

The gang of girls punched, kicked and slapped Michelle Ortiz, 42, in a wild melee in the Hillside Ave. fast-food joint in Queens Village on Jan. 21, cops said.

Ortiz, a single mother of five, suffered a concussion in the 5 p.m. beatdown.

"Animals acted better than they acted that night," Ortiz told the Daily News. "They just kept hitting and hitting and hitting and kicking and punching me in the head. I was defenseless."

In the shocking cell phone video, Ortiz is seen confronting a mob of young people inside the eatery. Then, someone hurls food at her, and seconds later, the girls pounce.

Ortiz said a pair of girls were preparing to fight each other when she stepped in.

"I was trying to make the peace," said Ortiz, who said she is suffering from headaches and nausea that prevent her from returning to work.

Students at nearby Martin Van Buren High School said they recognized some of the assailants as underclassmen.

"They had no right to put their hands on her," said senior David Johnson, 17. "I think they should be punished."