Transgender Bridge (Season 17, Episode 3)
Premise: When a transgender teenager dies after a 15-year-old boy pushes her off a park footbridge, the DA’s office takes the case from family court and tries him as an adult for a hate crime.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 17, Episode 3
- Starring
- Sgt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Dr. Peter Lindstrom (Bill Irwin), Judge Elana Barth (Jenna Stern)
- Guest stars
- Christopher Dylan White as Avery Parker, Dante Brown as Darius McCrae, Robert Sean Leonard as ADA Kenneth O’Dwyer, Adrienne C. Moore as Cheryl McCrae, Danny Burstein as Eric Parker
- Director
- Arthur W. Forney
- Writers
- Story: Julie Martin & Warren Leight & Brianna Yellen; Teleplay: Jill Abbinanti & Céline C. Robinson
Summary
“Transgender Bridge” begins in Fort Tryon Park, where three boys from a nearby public high school taunt Avery Parker, a transgender teenager, grab at her skirt and her camera, and shove her off a footbridge while onlookers film it on their phones. In the hospital with a concussion and a broken femur, Avery describes the slurs they used. The posted videos lead the squad to the school, and Markus Green names 15-year-old Darius McCrae as the one who pushed. With his mother, Cheryl, present, Darius admits the teasing was his idea because he did not want his friends to think he was gay, but says Avery fell against him and he shoved her away without meaning for her to go over. Avery picks out all three boys.
In family court, prosecutor Pippa Cox recommends probation for Markus and Keon Williams and juvenile detention for Darius. Darius draws an apology for Avery, which Fin brings to her, and she is touched by it. Soon afterward Avery dies suddenly of an embolism caused by the broken leg. ADA Kenneth O’Dwyer moves the case from family court to adult court and charges Darius as an adult with second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime, saying the city must take a stand against attacks on transgender people; the squad doubts that Darius fits the charge. Barba had argued to keep the case in family court. After Avery’s memorial, her parents, Eric and Lisa, say they do not want Darius locked up. His lawyer, Varma, chooses a bench trial before Judge Elana Barth.
At trial, one of the other boys says the idea was Darius’s, his teacher describes a protective, hardworking student shaken by seeing his cousin shot, and Dr. Lindstrom testifies that a 15-year-old’s impulse control is still developing and that Darius acted out of insecurity rather than hatred. O’Dwyer counters that Darius singled Avery out for being different. On the stand Darius weeps and says he cannot forgive himself, but under cross-examination he agrees that every step before the push was his choice. Eric Parker then testifies for the defense, presenting the apology and asking the court not to take another child from a family.
Spoiler, the ending: In closing, Varma argues that prison will not bring Avery back, and O’Dwyer says he never wants to see another child die for being who they are. Judge Barth finds Darius guilty of second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and orders him held in a juvenile facility until he turns 18, then moved to state prison for the rest of a seven-year term, as his mother cries out in the courtroom.
Why it stands out
- Robert Sean Leonard guest stars as ADA Kenneth O’Dwyer, who brings the case to adult court.
- Avery’s parents are played by Broadway actors Danny Burstein and Rebecca Luker, who were married in real life.