Muslim Woman Fabricated Story About Trump Supporters Attacking Her

She'll be charged with filing a false report
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 14, 2016 6:39 PM CST
Muslim Woman Fabricated Story About Trump Supporters Attacking Her
In an abandoned subway station in a Lower Manhattan, police stage a drill simulating a terrorist attack Sunday Nov. 22, 2015, in New York.   (New York Police Department via AP)

A Muslim college student who claimed she had been attacked by apparent Trump supporters on a Manhattan subway platform on Dec. 1 has now admitted she made the whole thing up. Yasmin Seweid claimed three young white men shouted "Donald Trump!" and called her a terrorist, followed her, and pulled off her hijab before she got away. But after investigators couldn't verify the story or find any witnesses or video of it, Seweid ultimately confessed Wednesday to fabricating it.

DNAinfo notes that "significant NYPD resources" were used in the investigation, and Seweid is expected to be charged with filing a false report, which could be either a misdemeanor or a felony. "This isn’t something we normally like to do, but she had numerous opportunities to admit nothing happened and she kept sticking by her story," a police source tells the New York Daily News. Seweid said she made up the story to get attention because she was having family trouble at home. "Maybe she was afraid that night. She was running late," her father speculates to DNAinfo, adding that she went missing for several days after the incident and was found at a friend's house. (More New York City stories.)

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