Albany

The evidence shared by prosecutors with community leaders in the 10 days since an alleged racial assault on three black female University at Albany students is broader than just surveillance video of the early morning fracas onboard a CDTA bus.

The presentation last Friday included excerpts from statements given to police by other passengers on the bus — among them other students of color — that do not support the women's account of a racially charged assault, according to two people who saw them.

Alice Green, a longtime Albany social justice activist who attended the briefing, confirmed Monday that the PowerPoint presentation at the district attorney's office covered more than just the videos that have so far garnered much of the attention in the aftermath of the Jan. 30 incident.

"We were shown other things," Green said. "The statements were abbreviated, but the essence of it was that there was some contradiction, and that there were people of color on the bus and they're saying they didn't hear any racial slurs and they didn't see any group attack (the women)."

Green said the group was also shown a photograph of a young white woman alleged to have suffered a black eye in the fracas, a seating chart of where the alleged participants were sitting and were allowed to listen to the 911 calls made by the black women who told police they were called racial slurs and beaten by a larger group of people that included white men. (Two of the three accusers were evaluated at Albany Medical Center Hospital for what police described as "very minor abrasions" on their faces.)

"From what we were presented, it was difficult to see evidence, if there was evidence, of any of those things happening," Green said.

The allegations spread explosively on social media and have garnered national attention — especially in the wake of a large, on-campus rally last week.

District Attorney David Soares said he previewed the investigation for community and university leaders in hopes of calming tensions on campus, which he said have been inflamed by "hearsay" on social media that has traveled faster than the formal investigation.

Green has not said whether she believes or disbelieves the women's story, but she said Monday that she felt it is important that the public understand that the body of evidence so far collected by prosecutors and the University Police Department amounts to more than the videos from onboard the bus and other riders' smartphones.

Those recordings, Green has said, depict a brief, chaotic scene at the back of the bus but do not clearly show the three women being assaulted by a group of people, nor are any racial slurs audible. Authorities are waiting on a State Police enhancement of the recordings to see if there is anything not audible in the raw video.

Green, who has been critical of Soares' office in the past, has said "nothing is clear-cut at all" from the videos alone and that it's difficult to tell what's happening on the bus, which was crowded with students traveling back to campus from downtown.

University Police Deputy Chief Aran Mull declined to comment on the investigation or the evidence that was shared in the Friday briefing, which was attended by Chief Frank Wiley. But Mull said investigators are searching out every piece of relevant information.

"Our folks have been incredibly thorough," Mull said. "We're not looking to prove one side right or wrong. We're looking at the evidence objectively."

Bernard Bryan, president of the Albany branch of the NAACP, was present for part of Friday's briefing but left before the videos were shown.

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Bryan declined to discuss the details of what was shared but praised the transparency demonstrated by police and prosecutors because "the severity and the community and civic ramifications raised by some of the allegations require that there not be a cloak of secrecy.''

"It's a process that has to try to determine the truth," Bryan said. "It's my hope that once everything is considered, we're able to make this a teachable moment for the future leaders of our country ... and that we figure out a way for all to be treated fairly and that there be no lasting recrimination on either side and that there's conciliation on both sides."

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com