Transgender person assaulted in Seattle, teen investigated for hate crime

[Bluebear]

A group of teens beat a transgender person and threatened to kill her Saturday on Rainier Avenue, according to Seattle police.

The person, who told police she is in the process of changing her name and appearance to a woman, reported she was attacked by a group of teens at the bus stop at Rainier and South Mount Baker Boulevard.

A teenage boy (either 13 or 14) was arrested and booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of robbery and felony malicious harassment, the state's hate crime law, according to police.

The teen told police he and his "homies" did not bother the victim until she solicited him for sex.


http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/170764.asp

[dem629]

1. Looks like the police used interchangeable pronouns.

[imdjh]

3. There are two speakers in the article- the reporter and the police report.

The reporter uses female pronouns and the police report uses male pronouns.

The important thing is that the police did their job.

What's disturbing is that a 13 or 14 year old, even a criminal one, would have the presence of mind after being arrested to claim that he had been sexually propositioned as a defense. i really hope that no adult suggested this to him, but I'm having a hard time imagining a 14 year old knowing that this might be something that would work.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. It's disturbing what our kids are learning from us.

While each generation fights hard to beat back the ignorance of bigotry, we shy away from confronting it.

What our kids take from that should not be shocking to us, but it is.

We forget that we were only able to learn not to hate because we confronted them.

And now, we hide our kids from every damn thing.

I wonder where the kid learned about that excuse?

[dem629]

9. Are the police guilty of using the wrong pronoun?

As for the kid, perhaps his claim is true.

[imdjh]

10. Yeah, because the victim would proposition someone while being attacked.

During the confrontation, several of the victim's assailants uttered a slur for a gay man as they struck and kicked the victim, then knocked the victim to the ground, the report says. The attacking youths also tried to pull off the victim's backpack. The group then fled.

At least one boy among the attackers tried flee by getting onto a nearby Metro bus. When officers responded, several witnesses directed them to the bus, which came to a stop at Rainier Avenue South and South Andover. The teen got off and tried running away, but police caught and arrested him.

(1) The boy later told investigators that his "homies" started "messing with the victim" because they thought the victim was gay, according to the police report.
(2) The boy claimed he didn't bother the victim until the victim tried soliciting him for sex. He denied that he tried robbing the victim of a backpack, the report says.

As for the police officer, he was referring to the victim by sex as they do all victims. It might not comply with our social expectation, but it's not a crime nor is it necessarily disrespectful.

[Bluebear]

11. What a shock.

[chollybocker]

2. Every friggin day, Americans are assaulted for being themselves.

So sick of it.

[wellstone dem]

4. This makes me so angry. My daughter

told me this weekend her roommate next fall is a transgender woman. She asked what I thought. I replied, "Will she pay her share of the rent?" That got me a big smile.

[imdjh]

8. Good for you.

I once had a prospective tenant ask me, "Is this a mixed neighborhood?" I said, "Yes, there are apartments and townhouses."

[sniffa]

6. Homie - Is it a suburban white kid?

As Bi-Baby pointed out, the language of this article is good. :thumbsup:

[imdjh]

7. Don't think so. But it's Seattle- so the lingo might not be the latest? nt