Posted on 02/01/2007 6:06:34 AM PST by On the Road to Serfdom
The Greensboro Police Department said in a statement Wednesday they would have no further role in investigating a fight this month at Guilford College.
Since charges were taken out at the magistrate's office and police were not called to the scene by the alleged victims, the accused or college administrators, police said the matter will have to be handled in the courts.
"After careful review of this case and consultation with the Guilford County District Attorney's Office, no evidence was found at this time that would allow the Greensboro Police Department to proceed any further in this investigation," the police department said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. "The criminal cases are based on the warrants that have been issued by the Guilford County Magistrate's Office and will be adjudicated in Guilford County District Court.
"This incident has caused much concern in our community. It is our hope that this matter will be quickly and appropriately resolved. "
Prosecutors will likely wait to decide how to proceed in the case until the college has completed its own judicial hearing, the district attorney’s office said Wednesday.
"The police have interviewed the three alleged victims and my next step is reviewing that," said Howard Neumann, assistant district attorney for Guilford County. "I don’t think we’re going to take any action until the school completes its process."
In the incident at Guilford, six students face assault charges. Five of them also have been charged with ethnic intimidation.
The charges stem from a fight early Jan. 20 outside a Guilford dormitory involving members of the school's football team and three Palestinian students, two from Guilford and one from N.C. State.
The Palestinian students have said they were attacked and beaten and that their attackers used racial slurs. A parent of one of the charged students has said the Palestinian students started the fight.
The two Palestinian students who attend the school, and three other students, have been charged with violating the college's code of conduct. Those charges will be adjudicated separately from the criminal charges.
Police interviewed the Palestinian students on Monday and Tuesday.
http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/breaking/article.aspx?storyid=78774
The parents released a statement the other day:
"None of these accused young men have yet to be interviewed by any college official. The Greensboro Police Department has refused to take their statements and declined to review physical evidence including pictures of a vicious stabbing and belt whipping that was inflicted by Khader (an alleged victim) upon Michael Six during the altercation.
"We also believe that a letter emailed on Sunday, by a college official, to all students of color greatly inflamed emotions needlessly. Here is the first paragraph from that letter from the Guilford College Director of Multicultural Education:
"'By now, most of you have heard about the situation that occurred on Friday night between some football players and Faris Khader, Osama Sabbah, and Omar Awartini (a student from NC State). Faris, Osama, and Omar were defending themselves against students (and possibly perspective students) that were attacking them physically and simultaneously verbally with phrases like "sandnigga'", "terrorist", etc. The incident was a hate crime.'
"We are deeply saddened by the inaccurate portrayal of these young men in this altercation by their school. When all of the FACTS are revealed, we believe that those who are sensationalizing this story will be rightly embarrassed and hope the retractions will receive the same level of visibility as premature and false charges. Under our system of government, our sons are presumed innocent of these charges and we hope that the community and the media will let the system run its course in determining their innocence or guilt."
If the football players did not attack the Palestinians, then the "Director of Multicultural Education" has published defamatory statements and Guilford College is exposed to serious $$$ damages for libel.
Racial slurs, the deadliest weapon of all........
One of the "Accusers" is already saying he's sorry, interesting.
http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/mostpopular/article.aspx?storyid=79013&provider=top
This one was great. They pointed out some things that have really bothered me. For example how the injuries suddenly got worse when the ACLU attorney got involved. As well as them refusing to go to the police but went to the Magistrate instead.
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=guilford13007.htm
My, my! Fighting at a Quaker-founded institution! What's the world coming to?
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