Justice Wasn't Served In This Trans Hate Assault

As the Chrissy Lee Polis case continues to evolve, the outpouring of support for her been gratifying to watch in addition to the angry reactions of transpeople rallying to her support and people raising an alleged $6000 for her on one website. 

There has been the swift capture, indictment of alleged perpetrators Teonna Brown and an unidentified minor on hate crimes charges for the McBeatdown with the trial coming soon.   There was also a rally outside that suburban Baltimore McDonald's in which there were solemn pledges by legislators and activists in Maryland to support trans civil rights legislation and stem the tide of anti-trans violence . 

However, I'm noticing some some glaring contrasts between what happened to Polis and the reaction of the trans community concerning another similar horrific attack aimed at another transwoman in February 2000.

When hers happened there weren't rallies outside the bar where the attack happened. 

Also before I get started, need to note in the interest of journalistic integrity that I met Jordana in September 2005 at the Transsistahs-Transbrothers conference in Louisville, KY 


After her 1998 transition,  Jordana was gaining fame as an open African American trans drum and bass music DJ and composer.   In addition to the news coverage she was getting for the transition, her music was also being played and profiled on VH1 and other places in the rapidly growing DnB music scene..  

As the new century dawned the future looked bright and the sky seemed to be the limit for her until one awful night in Kent, OH turned her world upside down.   

Philly drum'n'bass DJ Jordana LeSesne was assaulted early last Wednesday morning while leaving a small Kent, Ohio, club where she had just spun. According to eyewitnesses, a man police have identified as Matthew Gostlin, 26, of Akron, Ohio, ran up and punched Jordana in the face, knocking her to the ground, splitting her lip, and leaving her jaw and nose swollen. The attacker had lifted his foot above her head when a fan—George Meesig of Cleveland—shoved him away. 

The reason I have an account of this to work from is thanks to Brad Johnson, who called Jordana, talked to her and recounted the events of that night 11 years ago.  I did get Jordana's permission to retell this story so that it would be documented and that we would never forget.   It's important because it could have very easily resulted in a far more tragic ending.

February 22, 2000.   After playing at an event ironically called Epiphany at the Robin Hood Club in Kent.  Jordana is waiting for her ride to take her to a nearby hotel when the brutal assault on her begins.

She was forcefully punched in the face by a person later identified as then 26 year old Matthew W. Gostlin, knocked to the ground and savagely beaten in front of several witnesses including Robin Hood Club staff and the Epiphany party promoter Chris Graves to the point in which she blacked out.    

Gostlin tried to stomp on her head while she was defenseless and knocked unconscious on the ground.  When he tried to do he was pushed away just in time by Graves and Meesing.   Those men took off after the fleeing Gostlin while others attended to the injured Jordana..

Meesing and Graves were met near the parking lot of Jordana's hotel and told to back off by a truckload of four to five men who claimed to have weapons.   Speculation was by Johnson in his account that these wastes of DNA planned to execute the assault on Jordana in the parking lot of her hotel, but Gostlin impatiently spoiled the plan due to his attacking her at the Robin Hood Club.

There were accounts from several people at the scene that the unidentified individuals in the truck and Gostlin were all regular partygoers in the Ohio Drum and Bass/Rave scene.  There was also a chilling allegation from a person who wished to remain anonymous but knew one of the attackers in the truck that the intention and plan of the transphobic group was to kill "him" (Jordana) and leave "him" in the street for everyone to see.

So yep, this was a premeditated murder and hate crime that Gostlin and friends should have been arrested for, gotten prosecuted and be rotting in jail for.    So why aren't these wastes of DNA in jail?   .

Jordana blacked out for a minute but discovered her nose and jaw were fractured after going to her own doctor in Philadelphia on February 24 and reporting intense pain still occurring in her face.

On the night of the assault Graves didn't immediately take her to a hospital, but escorted her along with Meesing to the Kent, OH Police Department to file a report.

While she was there filing the report the Kent police checked the computer for a name that was given to them by an anonymous partygoer and got an interesting hit.

The name was the same Matthew W. Gostlin who was now the prime person of interest in this hate crime and the computer readout also coughed up his Akron, OH address.

Turns out Gostlen had prior brushes with the law in Tree City.   When Jordana asked Kent's finest if they would be arresting him ASAP since she was pressing charges, she was told according to Brad Johnson because this was at least a misdemeanor assault the police officer told her they would not be arresting him but would instead serve him a summons to appear in court and only if he ignored the summons would a warrant for his arrest be issued.

WTF?  

Bear in mind she has just suffered a traumatic beatdown that she's still in pain from.   She also told Johnson that she noticed the victim's rights form she filled out and signed had the arrest portion crossed out with a "N/A" and 'summons' written below it.

Hmmm.. So we have a possible deviation fron normal police procedure.  Knowing Jordana, had she been her normal self that sequence of events would have been unacceptable and she wouldn't have rested until somebody was rolling out the door to pick Gostlin's behind up.   But suffering from pain, shock and still bleeding from that assault. she didn't argue with the officer about this questionable deviation in procedure and reluctantly accepted it as part of the justice process.

Now here's Brad's comment concerning his impression of this:

Now to me this sounds really WRONG. If someone assaults someone (it was a first degree misdemeanor assault) then they are obviously a threat to the community and if the police knew where to find this guy then why didn't they bother arresting him? Someone I know in Cleveland raised the issue that Kent is a small conservative town and Jordana is black and the fellow who attacked her is white and had it been the other way around (a black guy who attacked a white girl) the police most likely would have reacted a lot differently.

This has to be stressed that this is ONLY speculation on this other witnesses part but I do find it strange.

I urge you to call the Kent, Ohio Police department and *respectfully* express your concern about the handling of case number 00-2825, an assault on Jordana LeSesne.

Um Brad, race matters in the USA no matter where you live. You damned skippy that had the racial script been flipped and the po-po's had data on a Black assailant with a prior criminal history conducting that level of premeditated assault on a white female similar to the level they had on Jordana's attacker (and failed to act on) the Kent po-po's not only would have picked his butt up with the quickness, but probably stopped off in some secluded spot  to beat his behind down before they took him to jail, then did some more 'attitude adjustment' beatings after they threw him in a cell to await his swift and sure court appearance .

But back to the story

Jordana asked what else she could do, and the officer tells her she could file a civil suit against Gostlin.  Johnson asked her if she was planning to do it, and at the time (February 24, 2000) she was contemplating it but also knew if she pulled the trigger on a civil suit, it would involve a lot of round trip travel between her then home in Philadelphia to Kent, OH  to execute and she was more concerned about the potential criminal case against Gostlin.  She was already running into the problem of most of the witnesses to the beating in front of the Robin Hood Club drifting away and the only people in the Kent police station with her are Graves and Meesing.

There were other witnesses who at the time claimed they would go to the station and file police reports, but when push came to shove, they never showed up and Johnson speculates they either went home or to an afterparty.

Now let's bring Brad Johnson back into this conversation.

We did not talk long since she was still in great pain from the doctor trying to reset her jawbone but she mentioned that she is cancelling most of the tour dates but she may still be playing in Washington DC on Saturday (February 26) if she feels up to it. She said it's doubtful because her spirit is broken and she has had the last straw after what has been two years of escalating hate emails, nasty postings about her on the internet and death threats left on her voicemail. She said she is probably going to quit DJing because she no longer feels safe or protected and the only thing that could have stopped the attack that was planned for her was an armed bodyguard who traveled with her, something no one has the money for. She also said that it might be
time for her to just leave music altogether and she is considering that so that she can get on with a "normal" life. Her doctor told her she should feel a little better in a couple of days and she was prescribed pain killers.

Lets all hope that when she fully recovers that she jumps right back in and fights on. It would be a shame to lose such a great talent because of a group of barbarians. I am really upset at this and the fact that the DnB scene has come to this kind of hatred but at the same time I think we should all thank the promoter, Chris Graves, and the other guy (Meesing) who chased this "strong man" down because they prevented a far worse attack which would have probably have killed Jordana.

Now I get to fill in the rest of the story.   She left the United States and lived in the UK for several years.before returning to Philadelphia.  When she came to the TSTB convention we made sure she had a bodyguard since that trip was the first time she'd been in the Midwest since that horrific night.   I was proud to have Jordana as part of the merry group sitting at my table the April 2006 day in Philadelphia I picked up my IFGE Trinity award.   

But I can tell you that one of the things that upsets her is that she hasn't to this day received justice for what  Matthew Gostlin did to her that night.    The attack of Chrissy Lee Polis was triggering for her, and really highlights the vast difference in community reaction to what happened to her vis a vis Polis, which is why I felt the need along with her to retell the story of what happened to Jordana..  

Not only did it take away her security, the assault dramatically altered her life.  She had to shut down a tour to recover from the physical injuries sustained in an attack that could have killed her, and the emotional ones have taken far longer to heal.   It cost her money, stalled her upward career trajectory,  and she was also getting feelers for other opportunities that were opening up for her at the time that the enforced layoff put a crimp in.   There is no telling how big Jordana could have become in addition to being a major icon to this trans community if that night in Kent, OH had never happened. 

I truly believe because Kent, OH is a conservative town and it was a white perpetrator with a previous criminal history assaulting a Black transwoman, the Kent police didn't do, weren't highly motivated to, or didn't give a rat's anus about doing anything to solve case number 00-2825.

And because of that, justice wasn't served in this trans assault, and the perp got away with it.