Priest beaten protecting trans woman

A priest who attempted to protect a 21-year-old transwoman from four teens who were hitting and verbally harassing her was beaten in front of a shelter for gay and trans young people. The teens were pelting Alessandra-Michelle Carver with garbage and yelling transphobic insults outside the Carmen's Place shelter in Queens when Fr. Louis Braxton attempted to chase the youths away. "One of them hit me with a garbage can," Carver told The Daily News. "Then his friends started joining in." Braxton, who runs the shelter, was able to scare off the teens while Carver made it inside the building. But minutes later the youths returned with metal poles, belts, and construction equipment including empty paint cans and a miter saw, and began beating Braxton. "Father was trying to make peace with them, but then one of them hit him in the back of the head with a paint can," Carver told the Daily News. "He fell to the ground, and they kept hitting him." Carver said she and other teens fended off the attack on the priest. Two of the residents also were injured. In making their escape the four ran past Transportation Authority Police officers who apprehended them. Charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, weapon possession and harassment are two 17-year olds, a 16-year old and a 15-year old.