Four People Attack Transgender Clevelander, Post Incident to Snapchat

A transgender individual was assaulted by a group of people outside an apartment in the Brooklyn Centre neighborhood Monday.

The 20-year-old — who does not “identify as a man or woman, but only as transgender,” a family member told Cleveland.com — was beat with a brick, wooden plank, and a helmet by the group, which included two men and two women. They also shouted transgender slurs at the victim during the assault.

The crew then uploaded a video of the attack to Snapchat, police and court records state. The victim, who lived in the apartment building, was taken to MetroHealth for severe facial injuries.

According to court records, one member of the group is identified as 19-year-old Sean Tolbert. He is charged with felonious assault and kidnapping and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.

This wasn’t the first issue the victim had with the neighbor. To repay a $15 debt, the victim was forced to wash Tolbert’s car, police reports say. Tolbert would hit the victim every time a spot was missed.

A second report was taken two days later when Tolbert almost hit the apartment building’s managers with his car. Tolbert was given an eviction notice because of the menacing behavior, to which Tolbert argued back saying it “wasn’t as bad as other things going on in the building.”

The Monday group attack could be classified as a hate crime, and the other three members of the crew have yet to be identified.

This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2017.