Angela Foley, 53, of Winthrop, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States is accused of smashing a neighbor’s window and vandalizing a neighbor’s vehicle, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. She also allegedly shouted racist slurs.

On the evening of September 17, 2022, Foley was arrested. The Winthrop woman was charged with violating a person’s civil rights, malicious destruction of property under $1,200 and malicious destruction of property over $1,200.

On September 19, 2022, Foley will be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court’s East Boston Division in Boston, Suffolk County. Her arrest is “the latest example of hate-based behavior that must be recognized and rejected for the social malignancy it represents”, Suffolk County district attorney Kevin Hayden said.

Civil rights violation

Two requirements must be met to sustain a civil rights violation conviction. The right at issue must be clearly defined by law and there should be evidence that the culprit committed the act with the intent to deprive the alleged victim of that right.  

In Massachusetts, a person accused of violating the commonwealth’s civil rights act may be facing up to 10 years in prison. Under the law, it is a crime to interfere with another person’s free exercise of a right or privilege protected by the constitution or laws of the commonwealth or of the U.S.

Winthrop, Suffolk County

Suffolk County has four parts namely Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop. Located on a peninsula connected to Revere by a narrow isthmus, Winthrop was settled in 1630, making it one of the oldest communities in the U.S.

Born in Winthrop, Thomas Fulham served as the president of Suffolk University in Boston from 1970 to 1980. In 1995, he died in Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts at the age of 79.