Posted on 11/18/2003 4:28:31 PM PST by KeyLargo
NBC5.com Northwestern Student Charged With Faking Racist Attacks Suspect Says He Wanted To 'Motivate' Minorities On Campus
CHICAGO -- A 19-year-old Northwestern University student was charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly faking two racist incidents earlier this month because "he wanted to do something to motivate minority students," police said Tuesday.
Nov. 11: Northwestern University Students Rally Against Hate
Jaime A. Saide (pictured, right), 19, of Des Moines, was charged late Monday with two counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing separate false police reports claiming he was the victim of a hate crime, Evanston Police Commander Michael Perry said.
In the first report, filed Nov. 4, Saide said someone hung a sign on the door of his dormitory room that read, "Die Spic," Perry said.
Northwestern had offered a $2,500 reward for the arrest of anyone involved in the incident, university spokesman Alan Cubbage said at the time. University police found racial slurs and the word "die" written on a wall near the student's room in Chapin Residential College, as well as a piece of paper hanging outside the door with the similar messages, Cubbage said.
On Nov. 8, Saide filed a report stating he was attacked as he walked north on Sherman Avenue near University Place in Evanston, Perry said. Saide said a man walked up behind him, put a knife to the side of his neck and said, "Spic, we didn't run away this time," according to Perry.
Police were skeptical of Saide's account, and he later admitted he concocted both incidents because he was concerned about racism on campus, Perry said.
"He said he wanted to do something to motivate minority students," Perry said.
Saide was charged late Monday and held overnight before attending a bond hearing Tuesday morning at the Skokie Courthouse, Perry said. Perry did not know the bond set in the case.
Perry said Evanston and Northwestern University police continued to investigate a series of bona fide hate-crime incidents that have occurred recently on or near the campus.
An anti-Semitic phrase was found Nov. 9 written on an outside wall of the Norris University Center, near where a 3-foot-tall swastika scrawled in blue marker also was found that day, Kimberly Carter, office administrator at the Fiedler Hillel Center, 629 Foster St. in Evanston, had said.
Carter would not specify what the phrase said.
The first in the latest incidents of vandalism occurred Oct. 30, when police found a swastika written in pencil in the hallway of Willard Hall. No forced entry was involved in that incident, so the university believed the vandal to be a student, Cubbage said.
During the spring of 2003, at least four incidents were reported in which racial slurs and a picture of lynching were drawn on doors of three African-American students' dorms, Cubbage said.
Police have yet to arrest anyone for the crimes, which do not appear to "have a pattern," Cubbage said.
During the fall, the university took measures to prevent further hate-related vandalism from happening, including meeting with student leaders and revising freshman orientation materials, "but apparently not successfully," Cubbage said.
Students protested the crimes last week by wearing black as a show of solidarity and holding several rallies and candlelight vigils.
Saide was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Dec. 1 in Skokie Court, Perry said.
This report came from City News Service.
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