Ariana Sawyer

asawyer@tennessean.com

The Putnam County Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday it will not investigate the incident where a transgender veteran's truck was spray-painted "Trump" and burned as a hate crime.

Cookeville transgender veteran's truck painted 'Trump,' lit on fire

The Tennessean originally agreed to identify the victim as "Elle," since the crime was potentially a hate crime and will continue to do so.

The incident took place early Saturday morning, while Elle was inside the home with her 3-year-old child. The truck, a Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson with gay pride and trans pride stickers on it, is a total loss after it was engulfed in flames. The garage door and front of the apartment were also damaged.

"Most of (the paint) got burned off, but one of the police officers pointed out that it said 'Trump' on the hood and the back," Elle said. She said she had no idea who would have done this.

The incident came just three days before the 2016 presidential election.

"Based on our initial investigation, this incident does not fit the criteria of a hate crime," the sheriff's office said in a news release.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”

The sheriff's department said it is investigating the incident as a suspicious fire, along with "a number of suspicious fires in Putnam County" since September.

Elle's friend and Cumberland Gender Advocacy president and founder Robin Ridley said she is not surprised.

"That is so ridiculous," Ridley said. "None of the other ones targeted queer people. None of the other ones had Trump messaging."

Cumberland Gender Advocacy provides support for Tennessee's Upper Cumberland area transgender community.

A disabled veteran, Elle served eight years in the U.S. Army. She was medically retired in 2007 after suffering from a severe brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder while on tour in Iraq in 2004.

She came out as transgender two years ago and said she hasn't experienced any discrimination in Cookeville. She said outside the city, she was recently assaulted by a man in a bathroom.

According to the most recent National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 41 percent of respondents reported attempting suicide, compared to 1.6 percent of the general population. That percentage goes up to 61 percent when that person has been a victim of physical assault.

Cities throughout Tennessee scored poorly in the Human Rights Campaign's annual Municipal Equality Index last month examining how inclusive municipal laws, policies and services are of LGBTQ people.

Nashville scored the highest with 60 points out of 100, but most cities scored less than 18. Chattanooga scored 34 and Knoxville scored 55.

If anyone has information pertaining to this investigation they are encouraged to call the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 931-528-8484.