NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A 32-year-old man is facing hate crime charges for stabbing a transgender woman at her home in North Miami Beach, according to police.
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Police arrested Joseph Lawrence White on three felony charges on Wednesday in connection with the Feb. 10 incident.
According to police, the victim is dating the suspect’s brother and she has known White for “several years” and the two lived with each other at some point. But an arrest report states that the pair “have never liked each other due to the victim’s sexual orientation.”
The report states that White, his brother and their mother had recently moved to south Miami-Dade a few weeks prior to the incident, but they came back to the 2100 block of Northeast 167th Street to get a speaker.
When they couldn’t find it, police said a verbal argument broke out and White called the victim a “f----t.”
“The victim replied back that (White) was the ‘f----t,’” police wrote in the report.
That led White to punch the victim in the face, police said. According to the report, when she picked up a skillet to defend herself, White wrestled the skillet away and then stabbed her in the chest with a pair of scissors.
Authorities said the woman defended herself with a broom, at which point White threw a candle at her.
Police said as White fled, the victim tried running after him but was feeling weak due to blood loss. She was eventually taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital.
The report states that Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested White in an unrelated case Thursday and he was brought to North Miami Beach police headquarters for questioning.
Police said he refused to speak with detectives. They arrested him on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and battery with prejudice.
As of Thursday, he was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, jail records show.