Skyy Perez. (Screenshot/YouTube KESQ-TV)
Police are looking into a violent incident involving a trans woman that took place last weekend at The Village in Palm Springs, a restaurant, nightclub, sports bar & grill located in the heart of the city’s downtown area.
PSPD spokesperson Lieutenant Gustavo M. Araiza told the Blade, “We are actively investigating that incident as an alleged hate crime.” Araiza said that currently no suspects have been identified.
Skyy Perez, accompanied by her friends Saturday night, discovered that her mobile phone had gone missing and as she attempted to search a bag belonging to another female patron, a scuffle broke out and Perez was ejected from the club by a security officer.
Part of what occurred next was caught on a mobile phone video which has been since widely shared on social media platforms. In an interview with Jake Ingrassia, a local reporter from KESQ-TV News Channel 3, Perez says she was attacked by another woman and her two companions. During the attack Perez was partially violently disrobed, stripped to her underwear by the group.
“She hit me with a sandal in the back of my head, and I fell to the floor, I kind of lost consciousness. And then the other two girls that were with her came and they were like basically jumping me and tore my clothes,” Perez told KESQ. “I was in disbelief and a rage that I got hit for simply existing.”
Perez said she attempted to spit at the woman, and that’s when she got sucker-punched to the ground by an unidentified man.
In the mobile phone video, her narrative is documented. Perez told the station she believes that she was targeted simply for being transgender.
News Channel 3 obtained security video from a nearby business which reveals a more extended dispute involving multiple people. During the altercation, a woman can be seen throwing Perez’s wig onto the second story of a parking structure.
Watch video below:
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