Albany

Hours after a rally in support of three University at Albany students who said they were assaulted on a Capital District Transportation Authority bus, a video posted on Instagram incited intense debate as to whether the altercation was racially motivated.

The video, quickly taken down from the social media site, was obtained by the Times Union and shows a one-on-one altercation at the back of a CDTA bus. The version given to the newspaper was a copy of what was posted on Instagram.

A woman with dark hair can be seen throwing wild punches at another woman as an onlooker attempts to pull the two apart and others on the crowded bus sit and watch.

The video is short and offers a limited view of the fight that took place inside the bus. Three black women said they were attacked and racial slurs were uttered but shouting on the video drowns out much of what is said during the fight.

At one point, a man says, "The bus driver don't know what's happening!"

"Take it outside!" one woman yells.

"This is awesome," a male voice says.

The video doesn't show the full incident or what happened before the female students entered the bus or after they left.

But videos from the bus might help authorities determine whether a hate crime occurred.

Investigators have reviewed security camera footage from the CDTA bus, have spoken with a number of passengers and have received cellphone videos of the incident, according to a statement by J. Frank Wiley, the UAlbany chief of police.

CDTA spokesman John Scherzer declined to describe the scene captured on videos recorded by the bus' security cameras. He declined to share any CDTA videos with the Times Union.

"We believe it will play out appropriately," Scherzer said.

The incident occurred around 1 a.m. Saturday, according to a UAlbany police incident report. The three female students said they boarded a bus at Quail Street and Western Avenue.

The three said they were called racial slurs during a verbal argument with what they describe as 10 to 12 white men and women before a physical fight broke out. One woman told university police that several men kicked her after she fell to the floor.

The students who said they were attacked left the bus at a campus bus stop, and two of them, with minor scrapes on their faces, went to Albany Medical Center to be evaluated.

At a rally Monday night, several hundred people gathered to listen to UAlbany junior Asha Burwell, one of the women who said she was attacked.

"We are shocked, upset, but we will remain unbroken," Burwell said. "We stand here with strength because we value our worth as black women and as human beings in general."

On social media and in the campus center, students debated what really happened and what security footage on the bus would show. The video is being reviewed by Albany and university police.

"I want to see the video when it comes out," said Kemi Mosaku, a UAlbany junior from Nigeria. "Part of it could be a race thing, but part of it could be aggressiveness. (The bus) is always rowdy, even during the day."

"Fights happen every weekend," a UAlbany football player, who is white, said. "I'm more concerned about a man putting his hands on a woman."

"I feel like the bigger situation is the bus," one UAlbany football player who is black, said. "Those things get wild."

"Nothing good happens after midnight," a third football player, also black, said.

Some students have taken to the anonymous forum YikYak to attack the credibility of the three women who reported the incident, while others have used Twitter and other forms of social media to defend them. The #justiceforWill hashtag supports a UAlbany student who allegedly withdrew from school after what he said were death threats and accusations that he stood and watched the fight.

"They should release that video," one student said in reference to CDTA security footage. "People are turning on each other."

Jarius Jemmott, UAlbany's Student Association president, said a "divided atmosphere" has emerged on campus. Jemmott spent much of Tuesday speaking to students.

He said the Student Association plans to host a forum in the coming days, as well as diversity and inclusion training.

"I'm trying to keep people united," Jemmott said, "as we learn more about what's happening."

jlawrence@timesunion.com • 518-454-5467 • @jplawrence3