“The only person we heard uttering racial epithets was one of the defendants.”

Three students from the State University of New York at Albany claimed in January that they were victims of assault on a bus and that the motivation for the crime was racism.

They are now being charged for filing a false claim.

CNN reports:

N.Y. college students accused of fabricating racially motivated attack Three New York college students who said they were targets of a racially motivated attack face multiple charges for what prosecutors are calling a false claim. A grand jury on Monday indicted Ariel Agudio, Asha Burwell and Alexis Briggs, all 20, each on a charge of third-degree assault and multiple counts of falsely reporting an incident, the Albany District Attorney’s Office said. Agudio and Burwell also face charges of harassment. Agudio also was charged with two counts of attempted assault. The State University of New York at Albany rallied behind the students, who are black, when they came forward with claims that a group of white men and women attacked them on January 30 in a confrontation on a city bus. Students held a rally and university President Robert J. Jones said in a letter to students and faculty that he was “deeply concerned, saddened and angry about this incident.” Others came to their defense on social media using the hashtag #DefendBlackGirlsUAlbany. The People of Color Caucus issued a letter in support of them. But university police said an investigation revealed that no one used racial epithets against the women. Instead, they assaulted another passenger and falsely reported the incident. “What happened on the bus was not a ‘hate crime,'” University Police Chief Frank Wiley said in February. “The only person we heard uttering racial epithets was one of the defendants.”

This recent video report from ABC News provides some background:

The sad thing about a situation like this is that it diminishes examples of real racism. It’s unclear what perpetrators of such a hoax hope to gain.

It’s also important to point out that many people on the left are too quick to believe stories like this when they happen. Even presidential candidates:

There’s no excuse for racism and violence on a college campus. https://t.co/ADVghl4iEv -H — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 4, 2016

Featured image via YouTube.



