Hate Crime Charges Filed Against Revere Women For Alleged Attack In East Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Suffolk County District Attorney's office has charged two Revere women with felony hate crime charges in connection with an alleged unprovoked attack on a mother and daughter in East Boston earlier this month.
Victims and witnesses told police that on Feb. 15, the two women shouted at a 46-year-old East Boston woman, identified only as "Ms. Vasquez," and her 15-year-old daughter and then physically attacked them for laughing and speaking in Spanish. Both mother and daughter sought medical treatment as a result of the attack.
The alleged attack was caught on video, and civil rights groups called on police to press charges earlier this week.
The suspects, later identified as 25-year-old Jenny Ennamorati and 25-year-old Stephanie Armstrong, told police that they had been drinking and were behaving belligerently.
Ennamorati has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery, two felony counts of violating constitutional rights with bodily injury and one felony count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Armstrong has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery and two felony counts of violation of constitutional rights with bodily injury.
"There is no place for hatred or bigotry in Suffolk County," Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a news release. "The sense of entitlement and privilege these defendants must have felt to utter these hateful and racist words, and then to physically attack a mother and her child for laughing and speaking Spanish is outrageous and reprehensible.''
Ennamorati and Armstrong are scheduled to appear in East Boston District Court on March 9.