Three teens may be charged in assault on trans boy in Massachusetts

The Gloucester, Mass., Police Department is pursuing charges against three teenagers in connection with an attack on a transgender boy in August.

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The assault on the boy, Jayden Tkaczyk, 16, occurred August 30 in a wooded area known as Dogtown where he was hanging out with friends. He said at the time that the attackers used the f slur as they punched and stomped him, and he was left with a head injury, a broken bone in his face, nerve damage, and bruises throughout his body.

The police department has filed applications for criminal complaints in Gloucester Juvenile Court, seeking assault and battery charges against three teenage boys, according to a Friday press release from the police. Two are 17 and one is 16. Their names have not been released because they are minors.

They will now go before a clerk magistrate, who will determine if there is probable cause for the charges to go forward.

Hate-crimes specialists investigated the attack, but the evidence “did not ultimately support hate crime charges,” the release says, even though Tkaczyk said he had been bullied extensively for being trans, and his mother said she believed the assault was a hate crime. “Stomping on my son’s head while saying that slur is a hate crime,” his mother told Boston TV station WBZ in September. She has been variously identified as Jasmine or Nicole Tkaczyk.

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Some media outlets have sought comment from the family since the pending charges were announced but have not received a response.

In September, Jayden Tkaczyk said his assailants were members of the Gloucester High School football team, which he played on as a sophomore. He now is a junior at a different school.

“I played on it for about a week or two before I had to quit because of the threats they were making towards me,” he told NBC News at the time. Also, one of the suspects was dating his former girlfriend, he said.

“Our department conducted a meticulous, thorough, and compassionate investigation, and the resulting charges are consistent with the evidence,” Gloucester Police Chief Edward Conley said in the press release. “Our thoughts remain with the victim, who suffered significant injuries in this attack.”

The Essex County District Attorney’s Office and Massachusetts State Police assisted the Gloucester Police Department in the investigation.