A student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette admitted to fabricating an alleged attack by Donald Trump supporters Wednesday, in the wake of his shocking electoral victory.
A currently unnamed woman called Lafayette police Wednesday claiming that two men had attacked her, screaming racial slurs and stealing both her wallet and the hijab she was wearing. The woman also said she was knocked to the ground by “something metal.”
According to the woman, both of her attackers were white men, and one was wearing a Donald Trump hat. She said the attack happened around 11 am, with her two attackers jumping out of a sedan to attack her without provocation.
The attack was quickly picked up by regional and national media sources, and was condemned by the Louisiana branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“[This attack] especially troubling in light of Mr. Trump’s frequent use of anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign trail,” the ACLU lamented in its statement.
But instead of showcasing the alleged violence of Trump supporters, the woman’s narrative fell apart within a single day. Lafayette police announced on Thursday afternoon that they were no longer investigating the case as a hate crime because the student admitted she completely made up the attack.
Lafayette police spokesman Karl Ratcliff told The Acadiana Advocate that the woman confessed after police poked holes in her story.
“There were a lot of things that didn’t make sense,” he said, emphasizing the absence of any eyewitnesses of the attack which supposedly happened near campus, on a school day, in broad daylight.
Ratcliff said he didn’t know why the woman had lied.
“That’s only one that she can answer,” he said.
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