Two women are charged with assaulting mother, daughter for speaking Spanish

Elisha Fieldstadt
·2 min read

Two Massachusetts women face hate crime charges after physically attacking a mother and her 15-year-old daughter who were speaking Spanish in East Boston, prosecutors said Friday.

Jenny Ennamorati, 25, and Stephanie Armstrong, 25, were both charged with misdemeanor counts of assault and battery and felony counts of violating constitutional rights with bodily injury. Ennamorati also faces a felony charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for kicking one or both of the alleged victims with her shoed foot.

A mother and her teenage daughter were allegedly attacked in East Boston for speaking Spanish on Feb. 15, 2020.
A mother and her teenage daughter were allegedly attacked in East Boston for speaking Spanish on Feb. 15, 2020.

"The victims and witnesses each allege that without provocation Ennamorati and Armstrong began shouting at the mother and daughter and then physically attacked them because they were laughing and speaking to each other in Spanish," said a statement from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.

Video released by Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston shows the assault, from the point Ennamorati and Armstrong approach the mother and daughter to the point an ambulance arrives.

The mother who was attacked, identified by Lawyers for Civil Rights as Ms. Vasquez, 46, said in a statement that she and her daughter "were attacked, punched, kicked, and bitten."

"I’m having nightmares. I’m afraid to take the train to work, and my family is afraid to speak Spanish in public," Ms. Vasquez said. "My daughter is still wearing a neck brace and she’s having trouble sleeping. We are all very shaken."

Ennamorati and Armstrong are due in court on March 9. They told police officers "they had been drinking and were behaving belligerently," according to the district attorney's statement.

The mother, who identified herself only as Ms. Vasquez, held a press conference on Monday to call on police to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
The mother, who identified herself only as Ms. Vasquez, held a press conference on Monday to call on police to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

District Attorney Rachael Rollins said she would "personally be watching this case at every step."

"There is no place for hatred or bigotry in Suffolk County," Rollins said. "The sense of entitlement and privilege these defendants must have felt to utter these hateful and racist words, and then to physically attack a mother and her child for laughing and speaking Spanish is outrageous and reprehensible."