SOURCE: KATU.com, 2019-08-30
Lauren Jackson describes how a man attacked her at Agate Beach State Park last weekend.
[Source]
A Lincoln County grand jury indicted Fred Joseph Costanza, 37, on four charges Thursday [2019-08-29], one of which was a first-degree bias crime, after he assaulted Lauren Jackson in the parking lot at Agate Beach State Park last weekend for being a man using the women's restroom.
Jackson recently moved to Portland and was visiting Newport.
She told KATU she started transitioning from male to female about a year ago.
"All of a sudden being pretty is very important to me. I’m having a rough start," said Jackson.
Jackson's jaw is healing from five fractures and surgery to fix them.
Witnesses told police Costanza hit her in the face "more than ten times."
"How I appear to other people is really important right now, and this is an intense to thing to see on my face," Jackson said.
She said the attack took her completely by surprise.
"He just comes up and starts yelling something about me being a lady, thinking I’m a lady. I just stand there and I don’t say anything. I don’t raise my hands. And he just blindsides me from the beginning and the rest was him dragging me around and continuing to punch me, and I’m just screaming. Someone heard and ran across the park and tackled this guy off of me."
Costanza, from Idaho, will be back in court Sept. 3 2019 in Lincoln County.
Jackson will be involved in the rest of the legal proceedings, but said she won't put much energy into his punishment if he's found guilty.
"This is his opportunity to use this situation and hopefully come out the other end better or happier. I understand what it feels like to have hate in your heart, and I’ve felt that in my life before, and I’m not going to pick that back up. It’s too heavy to hate someone for trying to find their own way, in their own way," she said.
Jackson said she's overwhelmed by the support of the community, her doctors, and the police.
And while she understands that some people don't think it's right for her to use the women's restroom, Jackson said she'll stay true to herself.
"Do you have to take away somebody else’s rights in order to protect someone’s rights? Is one more important than the other? I don’t know. I don’t feel safe using the men’s restroom. And other people don’t feel safe having me in the women’s restroom. I believe that people are inherently good and that I live in a kind world. I don’t think I did anything wrong, and I don’t want to live in fear. I came here searching for community and I found it. "
A bias crime, formerly known as the charge of intimidation until a new law went into effect July 15 2019, is a felony when a person intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes physical injury to another person because of the suspect's perception of the victim's race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or national origin.
The new law also removed a stipulation that multiple people needed to commit the crime for it to be considered a bias crime.
Costanza was indicted on first-degree bias crime, second-degree assault, menacing and harassment.
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