[ABC] Three university students who claimed they were victims of a racially-motivated attack on a bus in Albany, New York, will now face charges for assault and misleading police about the alleged incident.The three black, female students at the State University of New York in Albany told authorities they were called racial slurs and "harassed and assaulted" by a group of 10 to 12 white men and women on a city bus just after 1 a.m. on Jan. 30, according to a statement from SUNY Albany President Robert J. Jones released at the time.
All three said they were injured during the alleged attack and one of the students was transported to a local hospital with unidentified injuries, according to NBC affiliate WNYT.
But the University Police Department announced plans to charge the women --Ariel Agudio, 20, Alexis Briggs, 20, and Asha Burwell, 20 -- on Thursday with assaulting a passenger on the bus and falsely reporting an incident.
Police said in a statement that evidence gathered during their three-week investigation showed the students' initial claims "that they were victimized, were false" and that the women themselves allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old female passenger.