SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Police in San Francisco have arrested a man on suspicion of stabbing a transgender woman as she exited a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus with her partner on Saturday evening.
The victims, Samantha Hulsey, 24, and Rae Raucci, 52, both transgender women, say they took a seat toward the back of the bus when almost immediately, a man on the bus focused on them and “began acting violently,” reports SFGate.com.
“He started saying a lot of hateful things and messing with us,” said Hulsey. “He was threatening to hurt us. The way he was behaving leads me to believe he was on some kind of drugs. He was obviously not sober.”
The two women became more frightened when they noticed the man had a steak knife with “a three-and-a-half-inch blade and a big black handle,” according to Hulsey.
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When the women exited the bus, they said the man ran after them and plunged the blade into Hulsey’s upper chest, just below her neck. She said she put her hand over her wound, ran into a nearby McDonald’s and asked customers and employees to call police.
“I was afraid I was going to die,” said Hulsey. “I thought I was going to pass out on that floor and never wake up again. It was very traumatic.”
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Police said Hulsey was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with stab wounds. She received 10 stitches, according to Raucci.
The assailant was identified as Brodes Wayne Joynes, 54, and is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of criminal threats with a hate crime enhancement.
