Two men charged for attack on transgender woman with rocks and bottles

Two men were charged with assault as a hate crime for an attack a transgender female in Queens Wednesday night, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.

Investigators say the attack happened on the corner of 116th Avenue and 199th Street in St. Albans.

The victim, 22-year-old Carmella Etienne, tells the Queens District Attorney's office she was hit by rocks and a beer bottle thrown by Nathaniel Mims, 25, of the Bronx , 25, of the Bronx and Rasheed Thomas, 22, of Queens.

Authorities say the men also shouted anti-gay slurs during the Wednesday night incident.

"I was being attacked because of who I am," said victim Carmella Etienne. "I'm pretty traumatized."

"I never know them, never saw them," said Etienne, who lives in St. Albans. "I was walking from the store, coming to my house and attacking me with rocks with chunky rocks and empty beer bottles. The empty beer bottle they throw at me slash over and cut my legs; it cut my leg up."

When Etienne threatened to call the police, the two suspects allegedly said "The police don't care about you, they won't do anything to us."

Both men were arrested at the scene, but one witness says the police may have grabbed the wrong people.

"He stopped right here, started doing his little vogue-ing thing, cause that's what they do. And I guess the guy that is with my friend he didn't like he, you know 'Go outta here with that, you know, no one wants to see that' and he went about his business," said Candy Brown, a friend of one of the suspects. "Somebody else or whatever started throwin rocks or whatever, but they were here. They didn't have anything to do with it."

"Everyone should understand that these cases, whether they involve ancestry, gender, age or sexual orientation, will all be very vigorously prosecuted because of the effect that they have not only on individuals involved, but on the community generally," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Brown said if convicted the suspects, 25-year-old Nathaniel Mims and 22-year-old Rasheed Thomas, could face 15 years in prison.

"Nobody has the right to tell you you can't be who you are," Etienne said.

Etienne said she plans to enroll in college this fall to study fashion and wants all hate crime victims to come forward, call police and get justice.

When asked if she feels brave for trying to stand up to the alleged attackers, Etienne said, "Oh wow, I guess I would say that because I'm a very strong minded person. I'm very head strong and I believe in myself."