The ‘disturbing’ assault is the second crime reported against an LGBT person in days

A transgender person was standing at a bus stop in San Francisco’s historically gay Castro neighborhood last week when a man riding a bicycle shoved her to the ground from behind, according to police.

Police Chief Bill Scott said the victim was pushed by the unidentified suspect at around 6:07 p.m. last Thursday near Castro and Market streets. She hit her head and was taken to a local hospital, but is expected to survive.

“The disturbing part of this was that this was a totally unprovoked attack,” Scott said Wednesday at a Police Commission meeting. “We’re asking for the public’s help if anybody saw anything that can help us solve this case.”

Police have not released a detailed description of the suspect, who rode off from the scene on his bicycle and is still outstanding, or said whether the incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

“We don’t know what the motive is at this point, until we get the suspect into custody or we get help from anybody that may have seen this,” Scott said.

The assault came just days before the start of Pride Month in San Francisco and marks the second reported attack in The City against LGBT victims since last week.

Early Sunday morning, a man allegedly used a homophobic slur during an attack on two LGBT attendees of the California Democratic Party’s convention in South of Market.

One of the men was reportedly slammed into a wall while the other man said he was slapped in the face as they stood outside a bar on Howard Street. A suspect, 27-year-old Griffin Murray, was cited and released on two counts of misdemeanor battery after police stopped him nearby.

Police have since launched an investigation into whether the men were the victims of a hate crime.

When told about the Castro attack on Thursday, local Democratic Party Chair David Campos called the news “troubling.”

“Unfortunately it’s become more common to see something like this and in particular against the transgender community,” Campos said. “My sense of it is that Donald Trump and his hateful rhetoric kind of brings out the worst in people.”

mbarba@sfexaminer.com

Crime

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