Police Investigate Whether Attack At Dearborn Bar Is A Hate Crime [VIDEO]
DEARBORN (WWJ/AP) - Police are investigating whether a Detroit-area transgender woman was the victim of a hate crime after a bar patron made derogatory remarks about her before she was attacked.
Dearborn police responded to the Post Bar on Michigan Avenue about 1:50 a.m. Wednesday after a woman reported that she was stabbed in the back and struck in the face with a bottle outside the bar. Police say those involved argued and had been removed from the bar.
Police say the woman was treated at a hospital and released.
In a video on Facebook, a woman who identifies herself as Courtney Purvis says she was attacked because she's transgender.
"They hit me in my face because I'm transgender," she said, panning the camera down her blood-soaked shirt. "And they treated me like I did something wrong. I've been attacked. Trans lives matter too, and I don't understand why they attacked me like this."
Purvis told WJBK-TV a group of women was involved in the assault.
"Out of nowhere I felt something tug my leg and by the time I turned around, I get hit in the face with a bottle," she told the TV station.
Lt. Gary Mann tells The Detroit News the investigation includes whether it was a hate crime and is in the "preliminary stages."
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