On January 30, 2016 three black female students at SUNY Albany, accused a group of 10 -12 white students of yelling racial slurs and physically attacking them after getting into an argument on the number 11 CDTA bus. Asha Burwell, one of the students attacked tweeted about her experience gaining support from the black community on and offline.
I just got jumped on a bus while people hit us and called us the “n” word and NO ONE helped us.
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
All three women were treated at a local medical center for scrapes on their faces but no major injuries. As with any attack, University police launched an investigation and after three weeks came back with startling evidence. Police found that the accusations made by the three young ladies stating that they were victimized were false and that the young ladies themselves had assaulted another female passenger on the bus. Due to this new startling information Ariel Agudio, 20, Alexis Briggs, 20, and Asha Burwell, 20 are facing several charges. All three are facing the charges of assault in the third degree and falsely reporting an incident in the 3rd. Ariel Agudio faces additional charges of attempted assault in the 3rd degree and attempted criminal mischief in the 4th degree. Interviews from 35 passengers on the bus, security camera footage from the bus and four videos taken by passengers on their mobile phones support the charges being brought forth.
The ladies will be arraigned in Albany City Police Court on February 29th. So far none of the young ladies have spoken out about their pending charges.
