Euless, Texas: A woman is accused of attempting to drown a three-year-old child in a possible hate crime

CNN
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A woman in Texas has been charged with attempted felony murder and assault on a child after she attempted to drown a 3-year-old child in an apartment complex pool while making racist remarks, police said.

The Texas branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations identified the family as a Muslim and Palestinian family and called on state and federal law enforcement to investigate the incident “as a hate crime and take all precautions to protect the Muslim family and the Muslim community,” the organization said in a news release Friday.

On May 19, Euless Police officers responded to a call from the pool of an apartment complex about an altercation between two women. Witnesses told officers that “a very intoxicated female had attempted to drown a child and was arguing with the child’s mother,” police said in a news release.

The woman, identified as Elizabeth Wolf, 42, was approached by police officers as she attempted to leave the location and arrested for public intoxication.

The victim’s mother told police that Wolf asked where she was from and if the two children playing at the pool were hers, the news release said. The mother was obviously Muslim and was wearing a hijab, an Islamic headscarf, and modest swimwear, the council said.

According to police, Wolf also commented that the mother was not American and made other racist remarks.

“When the mother responded, she explained that Wolf tried to grab her 6-year-old son, but he broke free of her grasp, resulting in a scratch on his finger. The mother tried to help her son when Wolf grabbed her 3-year-old daughter and forced her underwater,” the press release said.

The mother managed to pull her daughter out of the water, but she “screamed for help and coughed up water.”

Both children were medically examined by Euless Medics, the press release states.

“We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my children,” the council quoted the mother, identified only as Mrs. H. “My country is facing war and we are exposed to this hatred here. My daughter is traumatized; every time I open the apartment door, she runs away and hides. She tells me she is afraid the woman might come and put her head in the water again.”

Euless police confirmed to CNN that Wolf was released from the Tarrant County Jail on bail.

“The bail for the attempted felony charge was $25,000. The bail for the assault on a child charge was $15,000,” Captain Brenda Alvarado told CNN.

It is unclear whether Wolf has a lawyer.

“We call for an investigation into the hate crimes, higher bail and a frank conversation with officials to counter this alarming rise in Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment,” Shaimaa Zayan, the council’s Austin operations director, said in a statement.

Texas Rep. Salman Bhojani said he was “shocked and appalled by this allegedly racist, Islamophobic incident that took place in my city,” the press release said. “Hate has no place in Euless, District 92, or anywhere else in our great state. I want to thank the Euless Police Department for quickly arresting the alleged provocateur, and I offer my support to the family involved.”