The mother of a Cleveland transgender man, whose brutal beating was recorded and uploaded to social media, told News 5 she's frustrated nobody has been arrested several days after the video was turned over to police.
News 5 has chosen not to name the woman or her son. Cell phone video showed a group of people taunting and beating the 20-year-old man Sunday at an apartment on Archwood Avenue in Cleveland.
The video, which was posted to Snapchat, is in the hands of Cleveland Police. Police also obtained nearby surveillance video of the beating. Sean Tolbert is charged with felonious assault, but has not been arrested.
The victim’s mother told News 5 the video is hard to watch.
"What kind of person can do something like that to somebody?” she said, sobbing.
She said her son also suffers from schizophrenia and said the group targeted him because he identifies as transgender.
“My son was bleeding from his ears. His face was 10 times the size it should be. And you know what he said to me? Mom, I don’t want to get anybody in trouble,” she said.
Eris Eady at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland told News 5 members of the transgender community live in constant fear of assault.
“They’re just like any other human,” she said, "Except it's just compounded because they have to live in a way where society does not accept who they are.”
The victim’s mother said she chose to speak out and share the video so she can force a change.
“People have a right to dress the way they want,” she said. "People have a right to be transgender. People have a right to be whoever they want without being assaulted."
