By snoadmin
After nearly a year, the reported slashing attack of a transgender graduate student at Cal State Long Beach is at a standstill, with the University Police and the victim telling two different sides of the story.
On April 15, 2010, Colle Carpenter was reportedly slashed several times and had the word “it” carved into his chest when he was in the men’s bathroom adjacent to Lecture Hall 150 and 151, University Police Capt. Fernando Solorzano said.
Carpenter is a female-to-male transgender person. Police said a CSULB instructor found Carpenter in the bathroom and called University Police.
Although a sketch of the alleged attacker was released in April 2010, no one has been identified as the perpetrator of the crime, Solorzano said.
The case currently has no new leads or added information and is officially suspended, Solorzano said. University Police reported that they have made several attempts to contact Carpenter — the last attempt being a phone call on August 25, 2010, when Carpenter did not respond, Solorzano said.
Carpenter provided the Daily 49er with phone records that showed no incoming calls to his cell phone on August 25, 2010, but declined to let the reporter keep a copy.
Carpenter has reportedly not responded to any emails or phone calls since June 2010 and is “uncooperative in communication with the police,” Solorzano said.
“The police department is more than willing to talk to Colle at any time,” Solorzano said. “We are always here to provide our services.”
Carpenter, however, denies that police have attempted to contact him and states that he had no idea that the case was suspended and that it is “a bit of a shock.”
“I have never received a single voicemail from them that I have never returned,” Carpenter said.
Instead, he said the last contact he had with police was an email he sent to Detective John Leyva on June 15, 2010, where he informed police that he was “requesting space so he could heal on the advice of his therapist.”
Even though police are reporting that Carpenter has been uncooperative with them, Carpenter insists he wants the attacker caught.
“If the police have something new, I want to know because I want to see this go through,” Carpenter said. “People develop arrogance when they get away with it and I don’t want someone else to get hurt and go through what I went through.”
Despite the attack, Carpenter continues to attend CSULB as a graduate student. He is presently involved in a film project about the transgender community, for which he is being filmed by students to “show transgender people as normal people,” Carpenter said.
With the one-year anniversary approaching, Carpenter said he has plans to cover the scar on his chest with a tattoo.
“It’s about doing something for myself,” he said.
Although the case has not been resolved, police “believe it was an isolated event,” Solorzano said.
“Students should feel safe and be able to enjoy their day-to-day activities,” Solorzano said.
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