Local
D.C. officer accused of anti-trans assault
Police chief says incident under investigation
D.C. police last week arrested a transgender woman for spraying a chemical repellent into the face of a man who she says called her names and assaulted her before identifying himself as an off-duty District police officer.
Chloe Alexander Moore, 25, was charged with simple assault following a 2 a.m. incident on Dec. 1 along the 1500 block of K St., N.W. According to court records, Officer Raphael Radon alleges that Moore squirted him with pepper spray in an unprovoked action following a brief exchange of words.
But two police sources said a sergeant and detective who responded to the scene determined through interviews with witnesses that Officer Radon initiated the altercation and may have committed a bias-related assault against Moore.
The police sources, who spoke on condition that they were not identified, said a night supervisor apprised of the incident by phone while at her office at the First District D.C. Police station overrode the recommendations of the sergeant and detective and ordered that Moore be charged with simple assault.
Officer Radon was not charged in the incident.
A police report filed in court identifies the supervisor as Capt. Michelle Williams, who was acting as the First District watch commander. The police sources said Williams gave the order to charge Moore in the case while speaking to officers on the scene by phone.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said this week that the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau was investigating the incident.
“Both the officer and the arrestee received medical treatment in relation to the occurrence,” Lanier told the Blade in an e-mail. “Additionally, this matter was properly reported as per our protocols and is already under investigation. Rest assured we will also address these allegations in our investigation.”
Moore, whose legal name is Alexander Moore, was taken to the First District at 101 M St., S.W., for booking and later to George Washington University Hospital before being transferred to the police Central Cellblock at 300 Indiana Ave., N.W., where she remained until being taken to court.
Court records show she pleaded not guilty before a D.C. Superior Court magistrate and was released on her own recognizance. She was scheduled to return to court on Dec. 13 for a status hearing.
Moore told the Blade the incident began when she and a female transgender friend were walking along the 1500 block of K St., N.W., and crossed paths with the man later identified as Officer Radon. Moore said Radon was with two friends, a man and a woman.
“We didn’t have a lighter and we see a gentleman who had a cigarette lit,” Moore said. “My friend goes and asks for a light and he said, ‘Hey ladies, how you doing?’ And we said we’re doing fine.”
According to Moore, as Radon got closer to the two he realized they were transgender.
“He was like, ‘I’m not going to give you a light because you’re a man,’” said Moore, who added that Radon suddenly became hostile and began making disparaging comments about her appearance, especially the dress she was wearing.
“He said he could see my dick and my balls. And he was very hostile and angry and I was afraid of what he would do and then he pushed me,” Moore said. “Not knowing if he was going to really hurt me I got real scared and in self-defense I pepper sprayed him.”
Moore said she immediately ran from the scene, with Radon chasing after her for nearly two blocks.
“He grabbed the back of my neck and he throws me on the ground,” Moore said. “My midsection was on the curb and he puts his knee in my back real hard, and it caused a lot of pain.”
It was at that time, according to Moore, that Radon pulled out his badge and identified himself to her as a police officer. Within seconds, she said, uniformed, on-duty police officers appeared on the scene. Minutes later she said she was placed in handcuffs and a short time later placed inside a police car.
“We stayed out there about three hours after it occurred, waiting to see what was going to happen,” said Moore. “The police were talking among themselves and trying to make up their minds what they were going to do.”
She said the officers initially ignored her request that they call an ambulance to examine her because she was in pain from being knocked down by Radon.
Eventually an ambulance arrived, but she observed Radon getting inside and being taken away.
“He was saying his eyes were burning,” she said.
A police report filed in court says the incident began about 2:05 a.m. and that Moore was placed under arrest at 4:26 a.m.
“At approximately 0426 the undersigned officer was ordered to place D1 [Defendant 1] under arrest for simple assault,” says the report prepared by an officer identified only as B. Dass.
“The order was given by the 1D Watch Commander (Capt. Williams) through Lt. Dykes. “Then D1 was transported to 1D for further processing,” the report says.
The report gives Officer Radon’s account of what happened, saying he told an officer responding to the scene that he was approached by “two transgenders who engaged him and [Witness 1] and [Witness 2] in conversation.”
According to the report, Radon said the two transgender women asked him for a cigarette light and then asked him where he was going.
“It’s unclear which witness pointed across the street to a club,” the report says. “[Moore] then stated, ‘We have everything better than where you’re going for $10,” the report said Radon told officers at the scene.
“Officer Radon then told [Moore], ‘No thank you, I am not into guys.” “And told [Moore] ‘You don’t know who you’re talking to,’” the report says. “[Moore] then pulled out a can of pepper spray and sprayed Officer Radon in the face. Officer Radon then pulled out his MPDC credentials at which time [Moore] ran [eastbound] on K Street,” the report says.
“Officer Radon gave foot pursuit and then an apprehension was made in the 1400 block of K Street. Both Witness 1 and Witness 2 collaborated [Radon’s] statements,” the report says.
But the report says two other witnesses backed up Moore’s version of what happened. One of the two apparently is the transgender woman who was with Moore. The report, which does not identify any of the witnesses by name, suggests that Witness 3 may have been standing nearby and was not with any of the others involved in the incident.
“Witness 3 recounted the same story as D1 [Defendant 1—Moore],” the police report says.
Local attorney Dale Edwin Saunders, who practices criminal law in the District, described as “highly unusual” the decision by police and the United States Attorney’s office to charge Moore in the case.
“This person would have never been arrested or papered if the complaining witness had been a civilian,” Saunders said. “The defendant had two witnesses corroborating her version of the events.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office, which prosecutes most criminal cases in D.C., could not comment because it’s a pending case, according to spokesperson William Miller.
Moore, who said she’s unemployed, acknowledged that she had been arrested on an unrelated solicitation for prostitution charge on Nov. 20 along the 300 block of K St., N.W., in an area known to be frequented by transgender prostitutes. She called the arrest unjustified and said she is challenging it in court.
She said she’s also planning to file a police abuse complaint against Officer Radon and was in the process of seeking assistance from Transgender Health Empowerment, a transgender advocacy group.
Transgender activist Jeri Hughes, who is on the T.H.E. staff, said transgender women who can’t find work, often due to anti-transgender bias, sometimes turn to prostitution “to survive.” Hughes said the facts surrounding Moore’s interaction with Officer Radon strongly suggest her arrest was a “miscarriage of justice” and called on police to thoroughly investigate the incident.
Radon could not be immediately reached for comment.
District of Columbia
Three of five LGBTQ candidates win race for DNC delegate from D.C.
32 candidates competed for 13 elected seats in party caucus
Three out of five known LGBTQ candidates running for election as delegates from D.C. to the Democratic National Convention won their races at an April 20 Democratic Party caucus election held at D.C.’s Walter Washington Convention Center.
Ward 2 gay Democratic activist John Fanning finished in first place with 140 votes and Ward 8 gay Democratic activist David Meadows finished in second place with 127 votes in a race in which six male candidates committed to supporting President Biden were competing for three male seats in a section of the city designated as Congressional District 1, which included registered Democratic voters in Wards 1, 2, 6, and 8.
Ward 7 gay Democratic activist Jimmie Williams won his race, finishing in third place with 200 votes in a race in which eight male candidates committed to President Biden competed for four male seats in the Congressional District 2 section of the city that included Wards 3, 4, 5, and 7.
Gay Democratic activist Felipe Afanador lost his race, finishing in sixth place with 47 votes in the Congressional District 2 election for male candidates backing Biden. It couldn’t immediately be determined which of the four wards in District 2 he is from.
The Washington Blade didn’t learn about Afanador’s status as an LGBTQ candidate until the Capital Stonewall Democrats announced it one day before the April 20 party election in an email statement.
In the Congressional District 2 race among female candidates, in which eight candidates competed for three female seats, transgender rights advocate and Ward 3 Democratic Party activist Monika Nemeth lost her race, finishing in sixth place with 49 votes.
The five LGBTQ candidates were among 32 candidates competing for just 13 elected delegate positions in D.C. D.C. will have a total of 51 delegates to the Democratic Convention, but the other 38 include elected officials and party leaders who are considered “automatic” or appointed delegates. The Democratic Convention will be held in Chicago Aug. 19-23.
Observers familiar with the April 20 party caucus election said Fanning, Meadows, and Williams had participated in local D.C. Democratic Party events and activities for a longer period than Nemeth and Afanador and appear to have been better known among Democratic voters in their respective wards as well as other wards. Those factors contributed to their receiving significantly more votes than most other candidates, observers have said.
In his candidacy statement posted on the D.C. Democratic Party website, Afanador said he worked on the 2020 Biden presidential election campaign in Pennsylvania. His LinkedIn page says in 2022 he began work in Washington for the Biden administration as an official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Nemeth is a past president of D.C.’s Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest LGBTQ local political group, and has been an active member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, the local party governing body. She served as a Biden delegate at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
“It is important for our D.C. delegation to have strong LGBTQ representation,” Capital Stonewall Democrats said in its April 19 statement. “There are five LGBQ candidates running to be delegate, and Capital Stonewall Democrats asks that our members support each one,” the statement says.
“Unfortunately, they fell short, but they and all queer Democrats are welcome to attend and participate in convention events and activities sponsored by the national and local party,” Meadows told the Blade in referring to Nemeth and Afanador. “Our shared goal is to unite behind the Biden-Harris ticket to protect our LGBTQ rights from being dismantled by Donald Trump and the GOP,” Meadows said.
“Running for District Delegate is one of the most grassroots efforts,” Fanning told the Blade. “It’s very beneficial to align yourself on a slate with community leaders that have either previously run for District Delegate or have developed a constituency in their community from other civic engagements,” he said, referring to possible reasons for his, Meadows, and Williams’s election victory.
Aside from the D.C. elected LGBTQ delegates, two prominent D.C. LGBTQ Democratic leaders will be appointed as delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in their role as members of the Democratic National Committee from D.C. They are Claire Lucas, a highly acclaimed Democratic Party and LGBTQ rights advocate and party fundraiser; and Earl Fowlkes, one of the lead organizers of D.C.’s annual Black LGBTQ Pride celebration and former president of the Capital Stonewall Democrats. Both are committed to supporting President Biden as the Democratic nominee for re-election.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Maryland state Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery County) on Friday held a “Big Gay Canvass Kickoff” event at his congressional campaign’s headquarters.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund Vice President of Outreach and Engagement Marty Rouse and John Klenert, a member of the DC Vote and Victory Fund Campaign board of directors, are among those who participated alongside members of Equality PAC. Vogel spoke before Rouse, Klenert and others canvassed for votes in the area.
“Joe brings a fresh new perspective to politics,” said Gabri Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, deputy field director for Vogel’s campaign.
Vogel, 27, is among the Democrats running for Congressman David Trone’s seat.
Trone last May announced his bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic primary is on May 14. Vogel would be the first Latino, the first gay man and first Gen Zer elected to Congress from Maryland if he were to win in November.
“We need a new generation of leadership with new perspectives, new ideas, and the courage to actually deliver for our communities if we want things to get better in this country,” Vogel told the Washington Blade last month during an interview in D.C.
Maryland
Montgomery County police chief discusses arrest of trans student charged with planned school shooting
County executive tells news conference student’s trans identity is irrelevant to criminal charge
Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Marcus Jones joined other county and law enforcement officials at a news conference on Friday, April 19, to provide details of the police investigation and arrest of an 18-year-old high school student charged two days earlier with threats of mass violence based on information that he allegedly planed a mass shooting at the high school and elementary school he attended in Rockville, Md.
In charging documents and in a press release issued on April 18, Montgomery County Police identified the arrested student as “Andrea Ye, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye.”
One of the charging documents states that a friend of Ye, who police say came forward as a witness who played a crucial role in alerting authorities to Ye’s threats of a school shooting, noted that Ye told the witness that Ye identified as the transgender student he wrote about as a character in a 129-page manifesto outlining plans for a school shooting. Police have said Ye told them the manifesto was a fictional story he planned to publish.
At the news conference on Friday, Police Chief Jones and other law enforcement officials, including an FBI official and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, referred to the student as Alex Ye and Mr. Ye. None of the officials raised the issue of whether Ye identified as a transgender man, seven though one of the police documents identifies Ye as a “biological female.”
County Executive Elrich appeared to express the views of the public officials at the news conference when one of the media reporters, during a question-and-answer period, asked Elrich why he and the others who spoke at the news conferment failed to “admit that this individual was transgender.”
“Because it’s not a lead,” Elrich replied, asking if the press and law enforcement authorities should disclose that someone arrested for murder is “a white Christian male who’s heterosexual.” Elrich stated, “No, you don’t – You never publish somebody’s sexual orientation when we talk about this. Why you are focusing on this being a transgender is beyond me. It’s not a news story. It is not a crime to be transgender.”
The reporter attempted to respond but was cut off by the press conference moderator, who called on someone else to ask the next question.
In his remarks at the press conference Chief Jones praised the so far unidentified witness who was the first to alert authorities about Ye’s manifesto appearing to make threats of a mass school shooting.
“Now, this is a situation that highlights the critical importance of vigilance and community involvement in preventing potential tragedies,” Jones said. “I commend the collaborative efforts of the Montgomery County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rockville City Police Department, and the Montgomery County Public Schools, as well as Montgomery County Health and Human Services,” he told the gathering.
“Thanks to their swift action and cooperation a potentially catastrophic event was prevented,” Jones said.
Jones pointed out that during the current school year, police have received reports of 140 threats to the public schools in Montgomery County. He said after a thorough investigation, none of them rose to the level where an arrest was made. Instead, police and school officials took steps to arrange for the student making the threats and their parents to take remedial action, including providing mental health services.
“But this case is different,” Jones said. “This case is entirely different that takes it to a different level. It was a concerned witness who brought this matter to light by rereporting the suspect’s manifesto to the authorities. This underscores the value of community engagement and the ‘see something say something’ approach,” he said.
Jones mentioned at the press conference that Ye was being held without bond since the time of his arrest but was scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing on Friday shortly after the press conference took place to determine whether he should be released while awaiting trial or continue to be held.
In his manifesto obtained by police, Ye writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act. Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he wants to be famous.
In charging documents reported on by WJLA 7 and WBAL 11, the 129-page document, which Ye has referred to as a book of fiction, included writings that said, in part:
“I want to shoot up a school. I’ve been preparing for months. The gun is an AR-15. This gun is going to change lives tomorrow … As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets. I need to figure out how to sneak the gun in. I have contemplated making bombs. The instructions to make them are surprisingly available online. I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets. High school’s the best target; I’m the most familiar with the layout. I pace around my room like an evil mastermind. I’ve put so much effort into this. My ultimate goal would be to set the world record for the most amount of kills in a shooting. If I have time, I’ll try to decapitate my victims with a knife to turn the injuries into deaths.”
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Upcoming Ugandan Census will not count intersex people
Three of five LGBTQ candidates win race for DNC delegate from D.C.
Daniel Zamudio murderer’s parole request denied
Montgomery County police chief discusses arrest of trans student charged with planned school shooting
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