Muslim lawmaker attacked outside prayer service calls for hate crime investigation
A Muslim lawmaker in Connecticut who was attacked outside a prayer service is calling for a hate crime investigation into the incident.
“You do need to investigate to see: Has this person had a bias towards Muslims?” State Rep. Maryam Khan (D) told NBC News. “The fact that there was none of that was very problematic to me.”
Khan was assaulted after attending an Eid al-Adha service in Hartford last month, leaving her with a concussion and an injured right arm and shoulder. The suspect, 30-year-old Andrey Desmond, is facing charges including misdemeanor assault, unlawful restraint, breach of peace and interfering with police.
He allegedly made sexual advances toward Khan and her daughters, with Khan saying that he slapped her, put her in a chokehold and threw her against the ground.
“I tried to de-escalate. I tried to distract,” she told NBC. “He just kept persisting.”
Officials filed more charges against Desmond earlier this week but hate crime charges were not among them. Hartford State’s Attorney Sharmese Walcott added felony charges Monday of attempted third-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault, strangulation and risk of injury to children to Desmond’s case.
The Hill reached out to Walcott’s office for comment.
Khan, who was the first Muslim to be elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, accused police earlier this month of downplaying the attack, saying it was much more violent than what was described in the police report.
“All I keep thinking in these last few days is what happens to women in the city of Hartford that call the police when they are assaulted, when they experience what I experienced, when they experience sexual assault, when they experience physical assault,” she said.
“I knew in that moment my body went numb, and I thought I was going to die."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.