UPDATE: According to KTVU and AP, the teen has recanted his story.
“As the investigation continued officers were unable to substantiate the facts of the victim’s statement; including the time frame of the incident, and the lack of physical injuries to the victim’s head, face and hands,” Hercules Police said in a statement sent Tuesday afternoon.
He recanted his account of the attack to detectives Tuesday afternoon, police say.
Investigators said they are looking into possibly pursuing charges against the student for the false report.
Police say California transgender teen who claimed assault in school bathroom recants story.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 5, 2014
A San Francisco Bay Area high school that's made headlines over a bullied transgender student is back in the spotlight, after another trans student was sexually assaulted yesterday in what police are investigating as a hate crime.
The victim, a 15-year-old freshman who police said identifies as male, was leaving a boys' bathroom at Hercules High School when three other students confronted him at around 10:30 AM Monday.
The three students, ages 16 to 17, allegedly forced him into the disabled stall, then physically and sexually assaulted the victim, Hercules police Detective Connie Van Putten said.
"We do know the suspects made derogatory remarks to the victim which caused us to carry this as a hate crime, as well as a sexual assault," Van Putten told KTVU.
On November 13 of 2013, Hercules High School was the scene of another case involving a trans student. 16-year-old Jewelyes Gutierrez, faced battery charges after, she says, fighting back against students who has repeatedly bullied and taunted her. According to Gutierrez, school officials did little to stop the harassment.
Police don't appear to believe that anyone from the November attack was involved in Monday's assault, but a search for the assailants is still on, as "the victim has not been able to tell us who the suspects were, and there's no indication that he had any prior contacts with them," Van Putten told KTVU.
Though previous sexual assaults led the district to install surveillance cameras in some schools, Hercules HS, didn't have any installed in the area, according to ABC7.
The victim was taken to the hospital Monday, but the full extent of his injuries remains unclear.
"This is a sexual assault. We're waiting for additional information as far as the medical exam is concerned to determine the extent of the assault," Van Putten told ABC7.
Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, author of AB 1266, California's law requiring school districts to allow students to use facilities based on their gender identity, reacted to the attack with shock and anger.
"It's particularly outrageous that a student has been assaulted while trying to exercise his rights under the law I authored and it’s particularly troubling that this has happened at a school where another transgender student was subjected to ongoing harassment," Ammiano said in a statement.
KRON 4's Will Tran asked Bruce Harter, Superintendent of Contra Costa Unified School District, if he believed that Hercules High School "dropped the ball" in this case.
Harter said yes, but defended the school, saying, "I think that this is the kind of situation that could happen at any school in America."
Ammiano had harsh words for school administrators like Harter, saying "We also have to hold the adults accountable for not providing a safe environment for all students. We have to hold them accountable for allowing students to believe that they can abuse transgender students with impunity."
