Cornell sophomore John Greenwood, 20, accused of leaving a black student's face bloodied in a racially motivated attack, has been charged with a hate crime by the county's top prosecutor

A Cornell sophomore, accused of leaving a black student's face bloodied in a racially motivated attack, has been charged with a hate crime by the county's top prosecutor.

John Greenwood, 20, attacked Solomon Shewit, 19, on September 15 in Collegetown because of his race, leaving him a bloodied and dizzy mess, Tompkins County district attorney Matthew Van Houten said.

Van Houten also alleged that Greenwood knocked a woman's phone out of her hand after she had recorded him calling another student a 'sand-n*****'.

The encounter is said to have altered many students' perception of the campus climate.

Van Houten charged Greenwood with three misdemeanors for the alleged actions, including attempted assault in the third degree as a hate crime.

Shewit has said Greenwood and several other white men repeatedly punched him and called him a racist slur on campus during the September attack.

'They said "F*** you, n*****" over and over, as they were leaving,' Shewit told The Cornell Sun from the hospital at the time.

Greenwood's lawyer, Ray Schlather, said his client 'was not involved in any physical altercation.'

In an email to the local paper, Schlather said Shewit had misled police and the community.

Greenwood previously apologised for using the inappropriate and unacceptable language,

A separate video obtained by police appears to show Greenwood calling another student a 'sand n****** and later adding 'come fight us n******.'

Solomon Shewit, 19, has said Greenwood and several other white men repeatedly punched him and called him a racist slur on campus during the September attack

The video is said to have been recorded around 30 minutes after the alleged Shewit assault.

According to a female student recording the incident, Greenwood called her ugly and knocked her phone from her hand and began stomping on it.

She said in a witness statement: 'He cracked the screen and damaged a credit card that was attached to the back of the iPhone 7'.

Shewit said that the altercation began when he and his friends were approached by several white men while returning home from a party shortly after midnight.

John Greenwood, 20, attacked Solomon Shewit, 19, on September 15 in Collegetown because of his race, leaving him a bloodied and dizzy mess, Tompkins County district attorney Matthew Van Houten (pictured) said

He said the group of white men yelled, 'N*****! N*****! F*** you n*****!'

Shewit told police he wants 'criminal charges pressed to the fullest extent of the law'.

In 2006, a Cornell student Nathan Poffenbarger pleaded guilty to a hate crime assault after stabbing a black man on campus.