2 women accused of attack on transgender person at Raleigh bar

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Two women have been charged after an alleged attack on a transgender person at a Raleigh bar.

The incident happened last month at Milk Bar on Glenwood Avenue, according to Raleigh Police.

Both 31-year-old Jessica Fowler and 38-year-old Amber Harrell are charged with second-degree kidnapping, a felony, and sexual battery, a misdemeanor in connection with the incident, which involved a transgender woman, Raleigh Police told ABC11.

In a 911 call, the caller tells the dispatcher: "She pulls her shirt up and says, 'Do you want to see my b---s?' and she pressed me up against the wall with her bare chest."

An arrest warrant said both Fowler and Harrell "fondle the victim's buttocks and chest."

Police said the attack started in the bathroom and continued into the bar.

"(The bartender) could see I was visibly uncomfortable," the caller tells the 911 dispatcher. "She asked the girls two times to stop. The girl didn't stop at first, so she forcefully had to tell the girl to stop -- she was like groping my back, my stomach, it was uncomfortable."

The general manager of Milk Bar declined to comment to ABC11.

Equality NC said these types of incidents are not unusual and often not reported.

"They don't get helpful reactions when victims try and come forward," said Ames Simmons, of Equality NC. "This is the kind of violence we're trying to work on. We're trying not to address these incidents after they happen."