[Warning: This video shows a disturbing incident.]
A man has been apprehended for the attack on a transgender woman caught on tape in Dallas, Texas. Edward Thomas, 29, was arrested on a count of aggravated assault. Police said this is flagged as a hate crime.
Cop said that video shows a group of men attacking the woman after a minor car accident. A man in all white knocked her the ground, and punched her repeatedly. Other individuals began kicking her while she was down.
The woman, who was identified in reports as Muhlaysia Booker, got up and tried to walk away. The man in white continued to follow and attack her until other women intervened, and carried her away.
She later said that the men yelled homophobic slurs during the assault, according to cops.
“Those who did this do not represent how Dallasites feel about our thriving LGBTQ community,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said in a statement condemning the attack. “We will not stand for this kind of behavior.”
Booker’s father told CBS DFW reporter Yona Gavino before Thomas’ arrest that his daughter sustained facial injuries and a broken wrist.
The father of #muhlaysiabooker is outraged and heartbroken, after his transgender daughter was viciously beaten last Friday, as a mob of people watched and recorded cell phone video. He says she has facial injuries and a broken wrist. He’s hoping for an arrest soon @CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/84NZLnTjNR
— Yona Gavino (@YonaGavinoCBS11) April 15, 2019
A Dallas County clerk told Law&Crime that Thomas has no attorney of record at this time, and is not scheduled for court yet. The defendant remains locked up in jail in lieu of $75,000 bond.
[Mugshot via Dallas County]
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