Family calls for hate crime charges after 11-year-old girl beaten on West Side of Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Community leaders are demanding justice after an 11-year-old girl was beaten outside her home in Lawndale last week, and then her mother was threatened for reporting the attack.
Wanda Porter said her daughter, Trinity Washington, was outside her home on Sept. 17, when her neighbor and another woman began harassing Trinity, using racial slurs, and then beat her and hit her with a liquor bottle after she didn't get her puppy out of their way.
Trinity suffered a broken nose, and other serious wounds to her face, requiring multiple surgeries.
"All I wanted to do was be with my family, and I have to go through surgery to surgery to surgery," Trinity said Tuesday, her nose still covered in a bandage.
Trinity and her mother were joined by several community activists on Tuesday, who said police did not respond to the scene of the crime on the day of the beating, only meeting the family at the hospital afterward.
Six days after the attack, a man who lives next door to Porter threatened her with a handgun. Porter said she asked him "why did you bring the news people to my f***ing house?"
She said the same man came back again later, and flashed the gun again, but police never showed up when she called.
The man who threatened her has since been arrested. Deandre Carroll, 32, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Activists demanded the women who attacked Trinity also be arrested and charged with a hate crime.
In a statement, Chicago police said the investigation is ongoing:
"The Chicago Police Department will not tolerate violence in our communities, especially violence against children. We stand with the child who was injured and will continue to support her and her family as she recovers from this heartbreaking attack. This remains an active and ongoing investigation as the detectives work to hold the offenders accountable."
