Suspects dispute hate crime

[kweerwolf]

(Follow-up report from The Michigan Daily to the story about the two college students who allegedly urinated on an Asian woman from their balcony and shouted racial slurs.)

While the alleged felony of ethnic intimidation that involved a University student urinating on two Asian students continues to enrage student organizations on campus, the suspects and their neighbors say the Ann Arbor Police Department and the media have exaggerated the incident.

The AAPD reported that along with urinating on an Asian man and woman passing by his apartment on Sept. 15, the 20-year-old male suspect and his roommate threw objects and screamed racial slurs at the couple. University President Mary Sue Coleman condemned the incident to the entire student body last Thursday via e-mail after faculty members urged the administration to take action.

But neighbors of the accused student are insisting that no one was urinated on, no racial slurs were used and no objects were thrown at the alleged victims.

“It seems that everyone — the police, the administration, and the student body — has determined we are guilty without having heard the facts. Now we have to prove our innocence after being falsely accused of this event,” the 20-year-old suspect said. Both of the accused agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity due to potential acts of violence that other students might commit against them.

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/26/433793c716f81