Marcus Owens faked a "hate crime" in Iowa City in 2016, but video surveillance evidence along with personal statements showed Owens' claims to be a hoax.
Here's how the Des Moines Register reported on the incident before it was revealed to be a hoax.
At the end, there is one final story after the hoax was revealed.
Des Moines Register by Jeff Charis-Carlson, May 6, 2016. The family meeting with the UI President, probably hoping to get paid off. The media says the response has been terrible. Be on the lookout for racist whitey!
A family member of Marcus Owens said Thursday he worries that Iowa City police officers don't share the family's "sense of urgency" in terms of finding the three men who reportedly attacked the black University of Iowa student Saturday while shouting racial slurs.
"My largest fear is that the students are leaving town next week," said Darrell Owens, Marcus Owens' uncle. "Memories fade, and people won't be around for the police to question. So time is of the essence."
Darrell Owens said his 19-year-old nephew was assaulted Saturday night in the alleyway of the 200 block of Iowa Avenue. The business major from Naperville, Ill., was walking outside Eden Lounge when he was attacked by three white, college-age men.
In an interview Thursday, Darrell Owens repeatedly praised UI President Bruce Harreld for spending most of Wednesday with his nephew and other family members. Harreld and other UI staff were working to provide Marcus Owens with whatever academic, medical and psychological support he needs to make it through the rest of the semester and beyond.
"Marcus Owens and his family allowed me to spend the day with them, and I was humbled by their strength and desire to move forward," Harreld said Thursday in a campuswide message. "No one should feel that their race or any aspect of their identity makes them a target. This kind of violence is unacceptable and must be denounced by the entire community."
Harred added that, if UI students were involved, "they will be subject to disciplinary procedures under the student code of conduct."
Since Saturday, Marcus Owens has received 15 stitches in his lip as well as treatment for a broken blood vessel in one eye and two broken front teeth, Darrell Owens said.
Doctors say there won't be any permanent damage to his sight, but Marcus Owens will need surgery to correct his dental problems.
Although satisfied with the response of UI administrators Wednesday, Darrell Owens said the family still "was not necessarily pleased on two fronts."
"We don't want to be (the Iowa City Police Department's) adversary, and we want to work with them," he said.
"But it doesn't feel that they have the same sense of urgency that we have."
Marcus Owens and his father, Melvin Owens, spent Thursday morning talking with Iowa City police about the case, Darrell Owens said.
Iowa City police officials said in a statement Wednesday that they have developed information on suspects and are investigating leads. Because of the racial slurs reported, the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
The family's second complaint focuses on what happened Monday night when Marcus Owens tried to report the attack to the UI police. Because the assault happened off campus, police redirected him to the Iowa City Police Department.
"Here you have a victim who goes to the campus police and who has been assaulted -- he's a bloody mess -- and they say, 'We don't want you to repeat it again, so you need to go talk to someone else?'" Darrell Owens said.
"That's a problem for me."
Another problem, Darrell Owens said, is whether his nephew's race played into that decision.
"Had that been a blond, blue-eyed white female coming in after being assaulted, I think there would be zero chance that they would have given the same response," he said.
The UI Office of the President issued a statement Wednesday confirming that, based on Marcus Owens' experience, UI police officials were re-evaluating the department's policy for redirecting complaints.
Had UI police taken Marcus Owens' full statement Monday, they would have had the information needed to issue a campuswide crime alert sooner than 10:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Many members of the UI community have questioned why the university took so long to issue either a crime alert, which would be required under federal law, or a Hawk Alert, which UI public safety officials use for warning the community of an immediate threat to the campus.
Since a Chicago news station first reported Tuesday on Marcus Owens' injuries, members of the UI community have been critical of the university's response.
Nearly 7,000 tweets have been added in that time to #ExplainIowa, which became one of the top trending hashtags on Twitter for part of Wednesday.
Students have vowed to continue pressuring the university until the administration does more to combat racism on the UI campus and throughout the community.
"We will continue to use #ExplainIowa until we are content in seeing that justice will exist for the foreseeable future when it comes to the interests of black students at the University of Iowa," UI's National Pan-Hellenic Council said in a joint statement. "Justice is NOT a campus atmosphere which fosters anti-black racism so strong that 3 white students feel empowered to attack an innocent, unsuspecting black student while walking."
Des Moines Register by Jeff Charis-Carlson, May 7, 2016. The "protests" begin. People are "outraged" at "three white, college-age men", which really means all Whitey.
More than 75 students lined up Friday afternoon in Iowa Memorial Union for a largely silent study-in protest outside the office of the University of Iowa vice president of student life.
Participating students declined to answer questions from the media, except to say that they were drawing attention to the failures of the university and local community in response to last week's reported hate crime against a black UI freshman.
Marcus Owens, 19, reports being assaulted Saturday night in the alleyway of the 200 block of Iowa Avenue.
The business major from Naperville, Ill., was walking outside Eden Lounge when he was attacked by three white, college-age men. Since Saturday, Owens has received 15 stitches in his lip as well as treatment for a broken blood vessel in one eye and two broken front teeth.
"We hope we don't get punched for studying," read the lone sign at the Friday protest.
The protest comes after several organizations on campus issues have statements in support of Owens and condemning the university's sluggish response to the reported assault against him.
"Numerous instances of racial and religious discrimination happen on this campus each day, and we will no longer remain silent, passive or apologetic for not feeling our institution truly embodies the mantras of 'diversity' and 'inclusiveness,'" reads a joint statement from the Black Student Union and the Black Law Student Association.
The protest also follows the creation of the hashtag #explainiowa, which has been included in thousands of tweets since Tuesday night.
"The #explainiowa hashtag is being used in the much the same way other campuses have been utilizing social media to engage the community and to mobilize their collective sentiments in the immediate moments following a jarring incident," said Cassie Barnhardt, an assistant professor of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies at UI.
Barnhardt said the hashtag is being used to convey multiple statements.
"It is being applied to communicate moral indignation of Marcus Owens' attack, to provoke a response from university administrators, and it is serving as an invitation of sorts to prompt others in the community to think about and pay attention to acts of racial aggression and bias," she said.
Des Moines Register by Jeff Charis-Carlson, May 11, 2016. Here's when the BLM liars start reporting their micro-hoaxes that can never be proved to be hoaxes but generate headlines to keep the issue going. Notice the quote by Center for Microaggressions. All the "persons of color" having racial insults "hurled" at them in downtown Iowa City on weekend nights - this is almost certainly fraudulent to create a hostile environment of "hate whitey" because Black LIES matter.
Campus police are investigating racially offensive drawings scrawled on a whiteboard in a University of Iowa residence hall on Friday.
The drawings, which defaced a positive Black Lives Matter statement, were racially biased and contained hate speech directed at black people, according to an email sent Monday by Monica Marcelo, acting hall coordinator for the Quadrangle Residence Hall, a 358-resident dorm.
Marcelo said the person responsible has not come forward.
"I am hopeful that they will so that we can have a learning opportunity from the incident," Marcelo wrote. "Words can and have had a negative impact on our community."
The drawings and messages have been removed, UI officials said.
"We will not tolerate anything but a safe and inclusive campus for students of all backgrounds," UI spokeswoman Anne Bassett said by email. "No one should feel that their race or any aspect of their identity makes them a target."
The incident Friday came less than a week after Marcus Owens, a black UI freshman, reported being assaulted by three white men outside a downtown bar near campus. Iowa City police are investigating the reported assault as a possible hate crime.
Officials from the university and the Iowa Board of Regents have since issued statements condemning racism in any form.
"We want our universities to be places where everyone feels welcome and must do everything we can to make our students feel safe," said Josh Lehman, a spokesman for the regents.
Many members of the UI community have been critical of the university's handling of the reported assault.
They also point out the assault represents the latest example of the hostile environment that students of color experience in Iowa's three predominantly white public universities.
"Statements like the ones that were written send the statement that not everyone is welcome in Quadrangle Hall or the University of Iowa, which is counter to our mission and values," Marcelo said in the email.
Multiple students of color at UI have reported racial slurs being hurled at them in the downtown area -- especially on weekend nights.
UI's Center for Diversity and Enrichment reported earlier this year that recurring complaints of bias and discrimination in the Iowa City area include students being followed at local bookstores and other retail venues as well as microaggressions in class, the dorms and the community.
Some high-profile events over the past two years include:
December 2014: A visiting University of Iowa art professor displayed a Ku Klux Klan figure on the UI Pentacrest in the same spot where hundreds of protesters had gathered the night before. UI officials had not authorized the display of the sculpture. The artist says the sculpture was meant to highlight ongoing racial violence in the U.S., but many members of the UI community saw the sculpture as a threat. The incident sparked campuswide debates over the conflicts between the university's commitment to academic freedom and its responsibility to ensure a safe and welcoming campus for all its students.
October 2015: UI Student Government issues a statement condemning a series of comments posted by UI students on several social media platforms targeting Asian, Asian-American and Pacific Islander students.
November 2015: Racist graffiti is found carved into a bathroom door in Spence Laboratories, 308 Iowa Ave. UI staff sanded the door down to remove the comment, and UI administrators denounced the slur.
Des Moines Register Editorial by staff, published on May 15, 2016. Look at how the Des Moines Register presumes that the police failed, and that it was a "racially motivated attack". The word "ALLEGED" is not used once here:
A thistle to the University of Iowa campus police for failing to adequately respond to the racially motivated assault of Marcus Owens, a 19-year-old student. Owens reported the incident to campus police but was immediately referred to Iowa City police, without being fully questioned, because the incident took place downtown, off campus. As a result, the university didn't issue a campus-wide alert for two days. What's most disturbing, however, is the fact that the UI officials say there are no protocols in place for Iowa City police to notify the campus police when an incident is under investigation -- even one that involves a UI student and may warrant campuswide notification of students and faculty. To his credit, UI President Bruce Harreld has met with Owens and appears to be leading the effort to ensure communication between the two agencies is improved.
Des Moines Register by Stephen Gruber-Miller, May 18, 2016. The aftermath. The Johnson County Democrats refuse to charge Marcus Owens with anything. Leon Spies is Owens' lawyer, just like he was also the lawyer (with Alfredo Parrish) on the Tarsha Michelle Claiborne fake hate crime in Iowa City back in 2000.
A University of Iowa student who police say inaccurately reported being the victim of a hate crime two weeks ago will not face charges, officials said Tuesday.
"If we were going to charge him, we could charge a variety of other people with disorderly conduct or different things (concerning this incident). And it seemed more important to the community to get the information out on what had happened," Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said.
UI freshman Marcus Owens, who is black, reported being assaulted on the night of April 30 by three white men shouting racial slurs. An Iowa City Police Department investigation found that Owens was involved in a series of altercations that did not completely match the account he gave police, and officials determined the incident did not meet the criteria for a hate crime.
"Marcus was not the victim of an assault," Iowa City Police Capt. Troy Kelsay said. "Marcus was an active participant and even an instigator in three separate physical confrontations or assaults that occurred at bar close. During at least one of those he suffered injuries. That is unfortunate, but when you go looking for multiple fights, that is going to happen."
The Owens family issued an apology letter Monday night, acknowledging that there were substantial differences between Marcus Owens' account and the police investigation.
"I want to extend my gratitude to the family for doing the right thing," said Lt. Mike Brotherton, who is in charge of investigations. "Because they did issue that apology letter. I think it was very necessary and critical for the community."
The Iowa City Police Department and Johnson County Attorney's Office held a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday morning to present a timeline of events and surveillance video that captured the incident.
"We very quickly learned through video evidence that the events as reported by Marcus just did not happen. Marcus was not even present yet at the bar at the time he reported he was assaulted, and video evidence from outside the bar and along the street nearby showed that these events actually occurred at or near bar close when Marcus came out of the bar," Kelsay said.
Surveillance video shown at the news conference revealed three separate fights involving Owens between 1:30 and 1:45 a.m. on May 1, including a large brawl outside Eden Lounge on the 200 block of Iowa Avenue. All three incidents occurred hours after Owens said he was assaulted. Someone did use the N-word, as Owens reported, which led to the second altercation, Kelsay said.
When Owens, 19, went to UI Hospitals and Clinics for treatment about 4:30 a.m. on May 1 -- nearly three hours after the fights occurred -- his blood alcohol content was .116 percent, Kelsay said.
Police also sought assistance from the FBI, which declined to investigate the incident as a hate crime after reviewing the evidence, Kelsay said.
The FBI defines a hate crime as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity."
Lyness and Kelsay said officials took seriously the report of a hate crime and acknowledged it as a divisive issue. Describing the community as the victim in this case, Lyness said it was more important to ease people's fears than to charge Owens with making a false report.
"If we charged him, we could be having trial in the fall sometime and delay it. And it seemed much more important to be able to get the information out so that people aren't afraid of being downtown or (afraid) that there were three white men who were going to attack people randomly because of racial things," Lyness said.
After the incident, Owens hired Iowa City lawyer Leon Spies, Kelsay said, and all communication between the department and Owens' family was conducted through Spies.
Police praised witnesses, including friends of Owens, for coming forward to tell their stories so officials could learn the truth. Kelsay mentioned that the community response to the incident and outrage at the idea that a hate crime could have occurred made some people afraid to come forward with a different story.
"The first liar is the one that's believed, and that was Marcus in this case," he said.
The ICPD and city of Iowa City will not seek restitution for their efforts in investigating the case, Kelsay said, citing a reluctance to get involved in a civil suit.
"I hope that he learned a lesson from it," Kelsay said of Owens. "But it was more important to get the truth out to the community, and that is a function of the Iowa City Police Department so, no, we are not going to be counting pennies or getting any sort of restitution."
Iowa City police say student's family did 'the right thing' by issuing apology letter
As you can see, the Des Moines Register absolutely wanted this to be a racial incident.
The Des Moines Register never used the word "alleged" in any stories referenced here about Marcus Owens.
The Des Moines Register and Owens' family presumed the police were incompetent.
The Obama Administration's FBI wouldn't even look into it. Why is that? (they knew)
Black Lies Matter got some additional headlines with fake stories of residence hall drawings, racial slurs being yelled at random black people in downtown Iowa City. Anything to push the narrative that white people are being racist.
In the end, Owens was never charged. Just like Tarsha Michelle Claiborne was only charged for marijuana possession and not making threats or likely setting fires. And just like how Lujayn and Raneem Hamad were never charged for their "hate note hoax".
If you want to get away with a "racial crime hoax", deep blue Johnson County and libtard-filled Iowa City is a good place to try it.
We expect to see much more of this nonsense in the future.
And we'll be looking into other incidents and noting media reaction.
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