A Boston man has been charged with assault for attacking a transgender woman who was riding the city’s high-speed rail train last month.
Gregory Barnett is charged with assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and civil rights violation of bodily injury by repeatedly punching and kicking the victim.
The incident occurred on Halloween, when the victim was boarding a Blue Line train with the door open at Maverick Station in East Boston when Barnett boarded the train and made derogatory comments toward her. It is said that he started shouting. NBC News.
“You’re not a woman, you’re a man,” Barnett reportedly yelled at the 41-year-old trans woman, whose name has not been released, before punching, kicking and assaulting her. She told police Barnett kicked her repeatedly in the groin area.
The victim told police: “I tried to protect myself, but Mr. Barnett grabbed me by the heel of my foot and pulled me, causing me to fall to the ground and breaking my wrist.”
Several passengers intervened, fighting Barnett off and then kicking him off the train. The victim told police that Barnett’s statements led her to believe she was targeted because of her gender identity.
Police were eventually able to identify Barnett, 53, as the attacker based on witness descriptions and surveillance video footage. He was arrested at Maverick Station on November 12th.
On November 22, Judge Debra DelVecchio deemed Barnett dangerous and ordered him placed under house arrest with GPS monitoring. He will be allowed to leave home only for work.
Barnett is next scheduled to appear in court on January 21 for a probable cause hearing.
“We will never tolerate anyone being abused, much less physically attacked, because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “And all residents and visitors have the right and expectation to travel peacefully and safely on public transportation.”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
