Confusion and Conclusions in Jackson Heights

Transgender activists marched Tuesday to protest the savage beating of Kathy Sal in Jackson Heights last Sunday and the actions of the police and media since that took place.

NYPD identified the victim as a man in their report, even though they were aware that she was known by a female first name. Television station WCBS deadnamed the victim (deadname: verb transitive, "identify a transgender person by their former name instead of their perferred name"). The Daily News and Newsday both misgendered the victim.

Daily News headline: EXCLUSIVE: Crossdressing Queens man brutally attacked, suspect repeatedly smashed his head into a curb

Newsday headline: NYPD: Cross-dressing man attacked in Jackson Heights, Queens

Jennifer Louise Lopez of Everything Transgender in New York City emphasized that such behavior maligns transgender people in the eyes of the public and devalues their identity.

Police originally informed the media that NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force was notified of the attack, but that the case had "not yet" been classified as a hate crime.

According to DNAInfo (I will not link...my computer crashed several time visiting that site), NYPD has decided it was not a hate crime, even though the perpetrator bashed the victim's head into the sidewalk again and again. Police explanation: a witness was discovered who viewed the entire assault and a preceding argument, leading police to believe that the victim and suspect knew each other.

I have no idea how that rules out a hate crime.

Lopez visited the victim on Tuesday after she regained consciousness and began to be able to speak once again. Investigators had not yet spoken to her, according to Kathy.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said on Wednesday that investigators planned to speak to the victim that evening.

On Friday an email from an HYPD spokesperson says "of course" police interviewed the victim (though it seems the word "suspect" was mistakenly used instead of "victim") before concluding the hate crime investigation.

Whatever. The NYPD has decided: Nothing to see here. Move along.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --