LONDON: A woman in Texas has been charged with attempted murder and injury to a child after allegedly trying to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian-Muslim child in a pool and attacking her older brother, CNN reported on Sunday.
The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged law enforcement to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
On May 19, police officers responded to an alert of a disturbance at an apartment complex pool involving 42-year-old Elizabeth Wolf and the victim’s mother.
The police stated that according to witnesses “a woman who was very intoxicated had tried to drown a child and argued with the child’s mother.”
The victim’s mother told the police Wolf had asked where she was from and if the two children playing in the pool were hers.
The mother was clearly Muslim, wearing a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, and modest swimwear, according to the council.
Wolf also stated that the mother was not an American and made other racist remarks, according to the police.
“When the mother answered her, she stated that Wolf tried to grab her 6-year-old son but he pulled away from her grasp, which caused a scratch on his finger. The mother began helping her son when Wolf grabbed her 3-year-old daughter and forced her underwater,” the news release said.
The mother was able to get her daughter out of the water, but she “had been yelling for help and coughing up water.”
Both children received medical clearance from a local health facility.
“We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids,” the council quoted the mother as saying.
“My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here. My daughter is traumatized; whenever I open the apartment door, she runs away and hides, telling me she is afraid the lady will come and immerse her head in the water again.”
The Euless Police Department confirmed that Wolf was released on bail.
“The bond for the Attempted Capital Murder charge was $25,000. The bond for the Injury to a Child charge was $15,000,” captain Brenda Alvarado told CNN.
“We ask for a hate-crime probe, a higher bail bond, and an open conversation with officials to address this alarming increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian sentiment,” Shaimaa Zayan, the council’s Austin operations manager, said.
Texas Rep. Salman Bhojani said he was “shocked and appalled by this alleged racist, Islamophobic occurrence that took place in my town.”
He added: “Hate has no place in Euless, District 92, or anywhere in our great state. I want to thank Euless PD for quickly apprehending the alleged provocateur, and I extend my service to the affected family.”
