A San Francisco man arrested on suspicion of stabbing a 24-year-old transgender woman as she exited a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus with a friend on Saturday evening in the city’s Civic Center neighborhood is scheduled to be arraigned today on six charges with hate crime enhancements.
San Francisco police spokeswoman Sgt. Monica MacDonald said Brodes Wayne Joynes, 54, was arrested at the scene of the stabbing shortly after it was reported around 5:55 p.m. Saturday on Van Ness Avenue between Golden Gate Avenue and Turk Street.
According to San Francisco District Attorney’s Office spokesman Max Szabo, Joynes is facing charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, two counts of criminal threats and false imprisonment, with hate crime enhancement allegations on all six charges.
The attack occurred shortly after the victims, two transgender women, boarded a 49-Van Ness Muni bus in the South of Market neighborhood and headed north on Van Ness Avenue, police said.
According to police, the victims were sitting toward the back of the bus when Joynes approached them.
One of the transgender women, Rae Raucci, posted a statement on Facebook following the attack, saying the man said derogatory things to them.
“We were both on the bus together when a man across the way accused us both of defrauding him by pretending to be female,” Raucci wrote.
Raucci wrote that the man harassed her and her friend Samantha, repeatedly calling the pair offensive names.
The pair then decided to get off the bus to get away from the man, but the man followed them off the bus, Raucci wrote.
The suspect brandished a knife, Raucci wrote, and then stabbed Samantha twice in the upper chest.
Police said the victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with stab wounds. Samantha received 10 stitches at the hospital, according to Raucci.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon released a statement this afternoon condemning the attack.
“A hate crime is not just an attack on the victim, it’s also an attack on our community and the values we embrace as San Franciscans,” Gascon said. “This is malicious and spiteful behavior that will be prosecuted aggressively.”
The arraignment is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today at the San Francisco Hall of Justice.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
