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An Ann Arbor Police Department patrol car rolls down Jefferson Street on May 15, 2016.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR, MI - After months of investigating, Ann Arbor police believe that two of three claims of possible hate crimes in November 2016 were false reports.

The three incidents were reported on Nov. 11, Nov. 12 and Nov. 15, 2016, in downtown Ann Arbor, near the University of Michigan.

Prosecutors will review the Nov. 15 incident, in which a woman reported being slashed with something, possibly a safety pin, by an about 45-year-old white man in the 600 block of Liberty Street.

Investigators believed the incident may have been due to the safety pin she was wearing.

Safety pins worn outside clothing have been used as a form of silent protest of the vote to leave the European Union and the election of President Donald Trump in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively, as well as to show solidarity with minorities who feel threatened.

Ann Arbor police Detective Lt. Matthew Lige said after an exhaustive investigation, the inconsistencies with the reported victim's statements and lack of surveillance footage of the incident as reported led police to submit as request for criminal charges.

"Flat out, it did not happen," Lige said of the Nov. 15 report.

The woman who reported the incident - a 21-year-old Ann Arbor woman - could face a misdemeanor charge for falsely reporting a misdemeanor assault, but that will be decided after review by the county prosecutor's office.

The Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has declined to charge a second woman who police say falsely reported the Nov. 11 incident, in which she claimed a man threatened to set her hijab on fire.

Though two of the three November incidents have been deemed false by police, authorities believe an incident on Nov. 12 - in which a woman wearing an outfit that may have resembled garb for some Muslim women was pushed down a hill - was a true report.

The investigation has gone stale, and those with information on the incident are encouraged to contact the Ann Arbor Police Department tip line at 734-794-6939 or tips@a2gov.org.

Though Lige declined to comment further on the false report cases, he noted that Ann Arbor police, University of Michigan police and the FBI put considerable time and resources into the investigations.

"Certainly there were other investigations that were stalled because of the high-profile nature of these two - these three, rather," he said.

"These three investigations were incredibly time-consuming given the nature of the allegations and the collaboration from the local law enforcement and the federal law enforcement was very much appreciated," he said. "From an investigator's standpoint, to get to the conclusion that these never happened at all is certainly very frustrating."