Transgender woman arrested in chemical spray attack eyed as hate crime in New York
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A transgender woman has been arrested in connection to the random attacks of at least seven people who were sprayed with a chemical substance on Friday in New York in what is being investigated as a hate crime.
Thomas J. Heard, 37, was arrested after allegedly threatening someone with a sharp object in the Bronx, and the victim worked with police to track her down. Authorities believe that Heard also was responsible for dousing a man with a pepper spray-like substance at the 125th St. subway station of the A/C/B/D lines on Friday, then running out into the street and spraying five more people.
Soon after, she allegedly attacked another woman waiting for the No. 1 train at W. 96th St. and Broadway. Then, around 2 p.m., a woman appearing to be Heard can be seen on a surveillance video violently kicking a stranger, Denise Galloway, in the leg before spraying her and her boyfriend.
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"All of the sudden, I hear this woman yell at me from behind, 'I hate you, you expletive expletive!'," Galloway told ABC 7. "I saw her pull something out of her pocket. I didn't know if it was a gun, I didn't know if it was a knife -- I didn't know what she had." She sprayed Galloway's boyfriend, Joe Barbuto, in the eye. Heard then appears to chase Barbuto down the street and spray him again.
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"She says 'I'm gonna pepper spray you' and she came around and she actually got me across my face," Barbuto said.
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Police say the believe that Heard's actions were racially motivated, because all of her victims were white. When police arrested her, they recovered pepper spray and a pair of scissors. She has reportedly been charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime, harassment as a hate crime and assault with criminal possession of a weapon.