2 women face charges in alleged attack on mother, daughter for speaking Spanish
“The rise in hate crimes is completely unacceptable."
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Two Revere women are now facing charges in the alleged attack on a mother and her teenage daughter because they were speaking Spanish while in Maverick Square, East Boston on Feb. 15.
Jenny Leigh Ennamorati, 25, is being charged with two counts of assault and battery, both misdemeanors, two counts of violating constitutional rights with bodily injury, both felonies, and one felony count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon: shod foot. Stephanie M. Armstrong, 25, is being charged with two counts of assault and battery, both misdemeanors, and two counts of violation of constitutional rights with bodily injury, both felonies.
The accused are scheduled to appear in East Boston Court on March 9, according to a news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
“My office requested the Boston Police Department Civil Rights Unit investigate this matter,” District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in the release. “The rise in hate crimes is completely unacceptable. I take these allegations very seriously and will personally be watching this case at every step.”
The attack, which was caught on video, allegedly occurred without provocation, authorities said. In a recent press conference during which she asked for law enforcement to prosecute the case, the mother, 46, simply identified as Ms. Vasquez, said that she and her 15-year-old daughter had just had dinner out when the alleged incident happened.
“My daughter and I were attacked, punched, kicked and bitten by two white women,” Ms. Vasquez said at the time. Vasquez’s remarks were translated from Spanish to English during the conference. “As they beat us, they yelled, ‘This is America, speak English.’”
The mother and daughter both had medical treatment. The defendants allegedly told police “they had been drinking and were behaving belligerently,” the release said.
Rollins condemned the attack.
“There is no place for hatred or bigotry in Suffolk County,” she said in the release. “The sense of entitlement and privilege these defendants must have felt to utter these hateful and racist words, and then to physically attack a mother and her child for laughing and speaking Spanish, is outrageous and reprehensible.
“In Suffolk County we respect and protect everyone, no matter the God you worship, who you love, how you identify, the language you speak, your immigration status, or your physical and mental abilities,” Rollins said. “Everyone is welcome here. Everyone is worthy of dignity and respect. Everyone deserves to feel safe.’’
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