Woman recounts racist attack while working at a Mystic hotel

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    MYSTIC, CT (WFSB) — The victim of a racist attack in Mystic says she wants justice.

A Black woman says she was attacked while working at Quality Inn Friday morning.

The suspects still haven’t been arrested and she wants that to change.

59-year-old Crystal Boyd of Groton says she’s in a lot of mental and physical pain, but she’s willing to speak for change.

“I haven’t slept. It’s hard to sleep. I keep seeing the event and his face and it’s frightening,” Boyd said.

The nightmare started for Boyd at the Quality Inn on Route 27, where she works at the front desk.

A man staying at the hotel called to complain about his hot water not working and Boyd says he got irate on the phone.

Boyd says she and her two coworkers quickly resolved the issue, but the man who was white came to the front desk and started attacking her in front of several people. She says no one jumped in to help.

“[He called me] a monkey and you don’t belong here, and kicking me, and just the fac that they were sitting there talking to, my coworkers are white, one is Indian, and they were settling it,” Boyd said.

That wasn’t the end of the attack. Boyd says while recovering in a back room, a second attack happened when she tried to venture into the hallway to find her belongings.

Boyd says she was punched, kicked, and stomped by the man and his girlfriend. While this was happening, Boyd says they were hurling racial slurs.

“You hate my skin so bad that you’d physically touch me,” Boyd said.

The attack was so brutal that Boyd says she’s working with a knee specialist, an eye specialist, and a therapist for PTSD. Boyd and her lawyer John Strafaci say the Stonington Police Department’s response was disappointing.

Captain Todd Olson tells Eyewitness News the suspects were taken to a separate hospital that night treated and released. He says they returned back to the hotel and drove back home to New York.

Boyd and Strafaci want to know why the couple wasn’t arrested after police viewed the surveillance footage that night.

“We should be able to rely on the police to protect us and when something like that happens, they need to do their jobs and that didn’t happen here,” Strafaci said.

Captain Olson said they are composing an arrest warrant for the man and says there will be some sort of assault charge.

He says they are also considering a warrant for the woman involved as well.

Boyd said she’s angry that her attackers aren’t behind bars yet while she suffers.

“This has totally wiped out all the things I was focusing on in my life. I can’t focus on any of the things I was focusing on last Monday,” Boyd said.

She says she plans on working with groups like Black Lives Matter to address racism moving forward.

“I feel like it’s enough. Enough. Connecticut needs to stand up. Ned Lamont needs to let them know when they come into Connecticut, racism will not be tolerated,” Boyd said.

Stonington police say they are working with the state’s attorney’s office to file the proper charges.

Boyd and Strafaci say they want to see a bias crime charged added to the list.

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