25 year old Chloe Moore of DC found herself in one of those situations on December 1
Chloe and a trans friend were walking in the 1500 block of K St. NW around 2 AM EST and crossed paths with off duty officer Raphael Radon and his male and female friend. Chloe's friend was a smoker, didn't have her lighter on her, noted Radon had a cigarette.and asked for a light.
“We didn’t have a lighter and we see a gentleman who had a cigarette lit,” Moore told the Washington Blade. “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 approached them he discovered they were trans he became hostile, uttered transphobic statements and disparaging remarks at Moore and shoved her. Knowing what we all know about anti-trans violence aimed at us, in self defense she maced him and ran. Radon gave chase, caught up with her two blocks later, tackled her, and then identified himself as a police officer .Of course Radon's blue buddies charged Moore with simple assault, but DC criminal law attorney Dale Edwin Saunders, 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.”
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Moore is also filing a complaint against Officer Radon as well.
The case is still pending, but it's just more empirical evidence that when it comes to transpeople, 'Officer Friendly' ain't so friendly.
TransGriot Update: The DC Trans Coalition has released a statement condemning Officer Radon's attack on Ms. Moore.
