A black student at Texas A&M University claimed racist notes were being left on his car. Campus police launched an investigation and ultimately concluded the messages were being left by the student himself.
We have seen numerous campus hoaxes like this one. What drives someone to do this?
Andrew Mark Miller reports at the Washington Examiner:
Campus police say racist notes found on college student’s car were put there himselfThe Texas A&M University Police Department says its investigation into a black student finding racist notes on his car windshield concluded that he put them there himself.Law enforcement officials at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, say that 21-year-old Isaih Martin, a senior at the school, called police on Wednesday afternoon to report handwritten notes places on his car with derogatory insults such as “All lives matter” and “You don’t belong here,” according to KBTX 3 News.Authorities say there wasn’t a camera nearby that clearly showed what took place, but they allege a nearby surveillance video camera shows Martin walking toward his vehicle and appearing to place “white specks” on the car and then taking pictures of them. Other people were seen near the car but only for brief periods of time consisting of a few seconds.The report states: “Martin immediately walks to the passenger side of his vehicle, but does not open any doors. Martin is seen toward the front of his vehicle. A brief white speck is seen from about mid-torso of Martin moving toward his vehicle. Another white speck is seen near his chest area. Martin is then seen stepping back and onto the sidewalk in front of his vehicle, most likely taking photos and videos. He then approaches his vehicle again on the passenger side and remains there for a few moments. He is then seen walking around the front of his vehicle. Martin then enters the driver’s door and drives away a few moments later. The total time spent at his vehicle is 1 minute, 15 seconds.”
Police believe no one else would have had the time to place the notes there but Martin.
Rusty Surette of KBTX News has more on this:
Texas A&M police say student who reported racist notes placed them there himselfIn a report released to KBTX on Thursday, police at Texas A&M University said a student who reported finding racist notes on his car’s windshield last month may have placed the papers there himself. However, the 21-year-old at the center of the case strongly denies those claims.Isaih Martin, a senior at A&M, called police on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 24, to report finding three handwritten notes on his car that said “All lives matter” and “You don’t belong here.” The third note contained the N-word…“He was the only person with enough time to place the notes on his car,” said police.KBTX has requested a copy of the video police used to make their conclusion but it was not released on Thursday along with the police report. The request for the video is still pending at this time and a university spokesperson did not immediately know the reason why it wasn’t released with the report.“I am utterly disappointed,” said Martin on Thursday, in response to the conclusions of the police report.
Texas A&M released a statement about the incident in June, before the investigation was concluded:
Schools have to take incidents like this seriously, but all too often it ends up being a hoax in the end.
Featured image via KBTX video.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY