A black transgender woman has been arrested in N.Y.C. and charged with a hate crime after reportedly walking up to Caucasians, telling them he hated white people, and assaulting them with something akin to pepper spray.
According to the NYPD per NBC News, Thomas-turned-Tasha Heard was arrested Saturday night after he approached a middle aged white couple, announced that he hated whites, then reportedly “kicked both victims and sprayed a substance in their face.”
Later, Heard “approached a 30-year-old male and a 24-year-old female, asked them if they were white and displayed a sharp object causing fear," the NYPD stated. "The female victim was sprayed in the face with an unknown substance causing redness, burning and discomfort."
Police say both incidents occurred in the Bronx, though NBC notes that police are also questioning Heard in connection with a string of other similar incidents throughout Manhattan near the subway.
“Multiple people, all of whom are white, were sprayed with an unknown chemical substance near subway stations in Harlem and the Upper West Side around noon on Friday,” CBS New York reports, adding that “In total, police say 11 white New Yorkers were all attacked over the weekend.”