While the alleged felony of ethnic intimidation that involved a University student urinating on two Asian students continues to enrage student organizations on campus, the suspects and their neighbors say the Ann Arbor Police Department and the media have exaggerated the incident.

The AAPD reported that along with urinating on an Asian man and woman passing by his apartment on Sept. 15, the 20-year-old male suspect and his roommate threw objects and screamed racial slurs at the couple. University President Mary Sue Coleman condemned the incident to the entire student body last Thursday via e-mail after faculty members urged the administration to take action.

But neighbors of the accused student are insisting that no one was urinated on, no racial slurs were used and no objects were thrown at the alleged victims.

"It seems that everyone - the police, the administration, and the student body - has determined we are guilty without having heard the facts. Now we have to prove our innocence after being falsely accused of this event," the 20-year-old suspect said. Both of the accused agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity due to potential acts of violence that other students might commit against them.

The Michigan Daily was unable to contact the alleged victims, whose names have not been released by AAPD. University administrators and other campus leaders were unwilling to share the information.

Stephanie Kao, a Business senior and co-chair of the United Asian American Organizations, said that whether the incident is true or not is beside the point - it highlights the negative campus climate toward Asians students.

"A lot of us are angry about these racial slurs - we're so focused on this issue of urination and beer. It's beyond this issue at this point. This incident might have been the catalyst, but we are trying to address why these incidents are possible and what in this University climate makes it possible and acceptable for racial harassment to happen," Kao said.

She added that since the alleged crime was publicized, UAAO has received numerous messages from Asian students who said they were victims of racial harassment on campus before.

Suspects recount incident

However, the accused said this incident was completely and illogically misinterpreted as a racially motivated act. The student accused of urinating on the two Asian students stressed that it is nearly impossible to urinate off their balcony. The fence around it is about five feet high, made of wood with only half an inch slit between the boards, where the suspect allegedly urinated through onto the couple. In order for someone to urinate off the balcony someone would have to be standing on a chair, the suspect said. He added that there is also a set of bike racks immediately under their apartment so it is difficult to walk directly under the balcony.

The student suspected of urinating on the couple said the night started off in typical fashion with only him and his roommate hanging out on the balcony playing beer pong. While an Asian couple walked by, his roommate tossed a beer absentmindedly over the side of the balcony.

The roommate insisted that it was a coincidence that he threw the beer while the couple was walking by, but he said it was at least seven or eight feet away from them.

"I'm almost positive nothing hit them," he said.

Both of the accused said that in response the Asian male used profanities and flicked a Dunhill cigarette at them, which hit one the suspects, a 21-year-old male, in the arm.

Amused by the gesture, the 21-year old male said he picked up the cigarette and started smoking it. Both admitted to exchanging profanities, but none involving racial epithets.

After a few minutes of arguing, the accused said the couple walked around the corner leading them to believe the incident was over.

However, the incident escalated when they said the Asian male showed up approximately 45 minutes later with four other male friends. The Asian female was not present.

The accused said that the five men were yelling at them to come downstairs and fight.

"If you show up with five people against two, how can you turn around and say your were ethnically intimidating them. It was five to two - he brought a gang to our apartment," the 21-year-old male said.

The 20-year-old male said he went downstairs to try to resolve the issue, because the Asian student believed he threw the beer intentionally at them. However, the suspect said there was only more yelling, and he decided to go back inside.

"I didn't think we could resolve anything with five pissed off people, and I wasn't going to wait outside all night," the 20-year-old male said.