A Muslim lawmaker in Connecticut is calling for a hate crime investigation after she was brutally attacked outside an Eid-al Adha prayer service last month. She said she felt her body go numb when the attacker choked her and that she feels the police downplayed the incident.
Rep. Maryam Khan, 34, who became the first Muslim elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives last year, said she was taking photos outside an annual Eid-al Adha prayer service at the XL Center in Hartford when a man approached him.
The man, whom police identified as Andrey Desmond, 30, allegedly made sexual advances toward Khan and his two daughters, ages 15 and 10. He said he slapped her, choked her and slammed her to the ground.
“I tried to de-escalate. I tried to distract,” she said. «She just kept persisting.»
Khan said he yelled for help, but police said officers stationed at the event had already finished their shifts. After several attempts to free himself, civilian men intervened and he was able to get to safety.
Desmond’s defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment. At her arraignment last month, she cited Desmond’s history of mental health problems, including a six-month stint in an inpatient psychiatric facility in New York.
He was originally charged with third-degree assault, unlawful restraint, disorderly conduct and interference with police, but after a hearing this week, new charges were added and others were upgraded to felonies. He now faces three counts of endangerment to a child, second-degree assault, third-degree attempted sexual assault and first-degree strangulation, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor charge of interfering with an officer.
What is conspicuously missing, Khan said, is a hate crime investigation.
«You need to do your research to see: Has this person been biased towards Muslims?» she said. «The fact that there was none of that was very problematic for me.»
Police told NBC News that the investigation is continuing.
“HPD and Major Crimes are investigating and working with the State’s Attorney’s Office, which released updated charges against the suspect yesterday. Ultimately, charges are left to the discretion of the State’s Attorney’s Office,» Police Chief Jason Thody said in a statement to NBC News.
Speech to the Associated PressThody expressed sympathy for Khan and said the police department will review their response to the attack.
Khan said that when the initial police statements came out, she was disappointed that some of the most egregious parts of her story appeared to have been left out, including the fact that sexual advances were made to her minor children and that she is a Muslim.
“I don’t know what the intent was to downplay it,” he said. «But to me, it just doesn’t feel like it was by accident…especially since they didn’t provide the protection.»
Hartford police said they did not downplay the incident and that the details they released to the media were a general summary of events. His police report was complete, a spokesman said, and not all of it has been made public.
Khan recalled yelling for help multiple times as she was attacked, but the officers who were stationed outside the XL Center at the start of the event had already left for the day, police said. He also said her sister was on the phone with 911 screaming as she was thrown to the ground.
But when the officers arrived to take his statement, they did not go to the scene. She said she had to walk two blocks to give her statement, sign documents and identify her attacker in person while he sat in the back of the police car.
A police spokesman said responding officers had to go to where the suspect was being held and that in-person stops, where victims are taken to see suspects, are standard procedure.
She said that emergency medical services had not been dispatched and that she had to ask the police to send an ambulance because of the pain she was feeling. She was later diagnosed with a concussion and she lost feeling in her right arm and shoulder, she said.
“People have called the police that a woman has been assaulted. … We are hearing that this assault is happening to a woman, but we are not sending medical attention,” she said. «They did not treat me as a victim, but they treated me as a witness.»
She acknowledged that her public role as a state representative sets her story apart from other crimes against women, and she fears how police might handle it when a victim doesn’t have a platform.
“When I saw my police report, I was able to have a press conference and they were able to increase the charges,” he said. «Other people can’t do that.»
Since the attack, other women have reached out to her detailing similar police inaction when they have reported violent crimes, she said. She is calling for a federal investigation into the police department’s handling of violent crimes against women.
“Many women in Hartford are wary of the Hartford police, because the Hartford police have not provided security for them,” she said. “This is clearly a big problem. I mean, much bigger than I thought it was.»
Thody said the police department will be transparent if there are any inquiries.
“We take the attack on Rep. Khan very seriously,” he said. «We are committed to transparency, welcome any inquiries and reviews, and are prepared to release as much information and video as permitted by law and as requested by Representative Khan.»
Khan reflected on the day of the attack, saying her instincts kicked in when it was time to protect herself and her children. She remained calm, trying to talk nicely to her attacker to get him away from her children and other parishioners. Women of color have to flex that muscle far too often, she said.
“The way we move in society, women of color, we are often the protectors of ourselves,” she said. “We always have to stand up for our own people, because protection is often not given to us.”