The Texas A&M University Police Department says its investigation into a black student finding racist notes on his car windshield concluded that he put them there himself.
Law enforcement officials at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, say that 21-year-old Isaih Martin, a senior at the school, called police on Wednesday afternoon to report handwritten notes places on his car with derogatory insults such as “All lives matter” and “You don’t belong here,” according to KBTX 3 News.
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Authorities say there wasn’t a camera nearby that clearly showed what took place, but they allege a nearby surveillance video camera shows Martin walking toward his vehicle and appearing to place “white specks” on the car and then taking pictures of them. Other people were seen near the car but only for brief periods of time consisting of a few seconds.
The report states: “Martin immediately walks to the passenger side of his vehicle, but does not open any doors. Martin is seen toward the front of his vehicle. A brief white speck is seen from about mid-torso of Martin moving toward his vehicle. Another white speck is seen near his chest area. Martin is then seen stepping back and onto the sidewalk in front of his vehicle, most likely taking photos and videos. He then approaches his vehicle again on the passenger side and remains there for a few moments. He is then seen walking around the front of his vehicle. Martin then enters the driver’s door and drives away a few moments later. The total time spent at his vehicle is 1 minute, 15 seconds.”
Police said that based on this observation, it was “difficult to distinguish any characteristics of the suspect in the video” but “based on video evidence, no other person had enough time to place the messages on Martin’s car other than himself.”
Martin disagreed with the conclusion of the investigation and maintains that an individual in the video seen walking a dog left the notes.
“I am utterly disappointed,” Martin said in response to the police report. “There are several things they did not include in this report.”
Martin said he has consulted an attorney and is no longer speaking with police, but he did post a message on social media voicing frustration with being accused of committing the act.
“I’m in a predicament where the topic of the case was let’s find out who did this to them pointing the finger at me,” Martin tweeted. “In the end, I stopped talking to them because it seemed they were more interested in me getting the blame for this hate crime instead of finding the actual person who did it.”
Campus police consider the case closed, and the school issued a statement confirming the matter is closed.
