Three black female college students from SUNY Albany, who once claimed they were victims of a racially motivated attack at the hands of a group of white men and women on a CDTA bus in upstate New York, have been named the aggressors in the alleged incident and will now face charges for assault.
The three students - Alexis Briggs, Ariel Agudio and Asha Burwell - all 20 years of age, told authorities that while on a bus on Jan. 30 in Albany, they were called racial slurs and "harassed and assaulted" by a group of 10 to 12 white men and women, according to NBC News.
The implications of the incident were extreme, and as such, authorities launched a three-week investigation into the alleged incident. However, instead of a supposed "racist attack" at the hands of white passengers against the three black women, authorities found that the claims were false, and that they themselves had allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old passenger.
Police said that surveillance and cellphone video, along with the testimony from the 35 passengers on board the bus at the time of the incident, contradicted the women's account. In fact, evidence showed that the white men who supposedly were responsible for the assault were actually trying to break up the fight.
"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, according to the New York Daily News.
The incident garnered extensive media attention and even sparked protests at the university, with hundreds coming out in support of the alleged victims. Now that the incident is reportedly false, who knows what could happen.
In addition to assault charges, Burwell and Agudio have been charged with misdemeanor falsely reporting an incident to the police and Agudio faces an additional count of attempted assault and attempted criminal mischief, according to the Albany Times-Union.
The women are scheduled to be arraigned in Albany City Police Court on Monday. A conviction on the assault charges is punishable by up to one year in prison.
