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Title: SUNY Albany students who claimed racial attack will be charged for assault and false reporting
Source:
NY Daily News
URL Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat ... tack-charged-article-1.2543435
Published: Feb 26, 2016
Author: Jason Silverstein
Post Date: 2016-02-26 09:06:02 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 571
Comments: 6
Three SUNY Albany students who claimed they were victims of a racially motivated attack may have been the aggressors, police said Thursday — and they'll soon face charges. The students will be arrested about four weeks after allegedly assaulting a passenger on a city bus, then lying about what happened, leading to national outrage over an apparently fabricated story. The three students — Alexis Briggs, from Huntington, Ariel Agudio, from Elmira Heights, and Asha Burwell, from Huntington Station — will be charged with third-degree assault, police said. Agudio and Burwell will also be charged for falsely reporting the incident. The women, who are all 20 and African-American, claimed on Jan. 30 that up to a dozen white classmates spewed racial insults and ganged up on them on a bus. Asha Burwell is one of three SUNY Albany students who said she was assaulted, but is now accused of assault. The alleged assault led to a massive rally on campus, and supporters nationwide used the hashtag #DefendBlackGirlsUAlbany to show solidarity online. Hillary Clinton tweeted about it, writing: "There's no excuse for racism and violence on a college campus." But police said an investigation revealed there was only one victim: A 19-year-old woman from Congers, N.Y., who was beaten by Briggs, Ahudio and Burwell. "The evidence indicates they were actually the aggressors in the physical altercation, and that they continued to assault the victim despite the efforts of several passengers to stop them," police said in a statement. The victim has not been named. Cell phone footage published earlier this month showed an obscured view of the assault. Surveillance footage disproved the initial claims about the attack, police said. Witness interviews and surveillance footage also indicated the students were never "targeted in any manner due to their race," police said. But they may have done so to their victim. "The only person we heard uttering racial epithets was one of the defendants." police said, not specifying the victim's race. Video of the assault will soon be released, police said. The Albany Times-Union weeks ago published a short, obscured cellphone video of the attack, but the footage gave no clear idea of what happened on the bus. The frantic clip appeared to show two women fighting as the other passengers tried to break them up. There's no excuse for racism and violence on a college campus. https://t.co/ADVghl4iEv -H— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 4, 2016 Burwell was the only accuser who had been identified before Thursday's announcement. She actively tweeted about the incident when it first made headlines, but has not written anything since Feb. 11, when she posted: "Please don't confuse my silence with defeat. I'm still fighting this, like I said I will not give up. The truth will come out soon." She did not return Daily News calls for comment. Briggs did not return calls and Agudio could not be reached for comment. Each student is due in court Monday. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
#1. To: cranky (#0)
Hey keep us up to date on this willya?
Sure. If it ever gets to court, I'll bet a few hours of community service is the max they'll get.
They'll claim the victim started it by calling them a racial epithet.
That should excuse their actions, all right.
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#2. To: BobCeleste (#1)
Hey keep us up to date on this willya?
#4. To: cranky (#2)
"If it ever gets to court, I'll bet a few hours of community service is the max they'll get."
#5. To: misterwhite (#4)
They'll claim the victim started it by calling them a racial epithet.
Replies to Comment # 5.
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