Meanwhile, his mother says: “He was just joking around.” SMH. Teen Boy Charged As Adult For Setting Gay Classmate On Fire A teenage tyrant from Oakland will face adult-level assault charges after he set his classmate’s skirt on fire, resulting in severe leg burns in what police have now deemed a hate-crime attack. via San Francisco Chronicle Prosecutors filed hate-crime charges against a 16-year-old boy Thursday, saying he set aflame the skirt of a teenage gender-identity activist while the victim was asleep on a bus in Oakland, then admitted to police that he had started the fire because he was “h*moph*bic.” Richard Thomas of Oakland was charged as an adult with aggravated mayhem, assault and hate-crime enhancements in connection with Monday’s attack on Luke Fleischman, 18, whose legs were severely burned. After Thomas made a brief afternoon appearance in an Oakland courtroom, where he did not enter a plea, his mother apologized and expressed sympathy for Fleischman. She said her son regretted his actions and wanted to write an apology letter to Fleischman. “My son is not a hateful person,” said Thomas’ mother, who would identify herself only as Ms. Jackson. “He’s not homophobic. He’s a kid. Kids joke around. I think he will learn his lesson. He’s very remorseful. I’m sorry for it.” Fleischman, an Oakland resident who attends Maybeck High School in Berkeley, goes by the name Sasha. The teenager was born male but has declined in the past to identify as male or female, instead preferring the term “genderqu*er.” How in the world is setting another person on fire “joking around??” They need to lock this boys’ mother up right along with him if that’s really how she feels. Just ridiculous! Shutterstock
