Woman says UNC police doubt assault story

The young woman who was the subject of an Alert Carolina message sent out Nov. 19 said that campus police are doubting her story of assault.

Sabrina Caudle, the girlfriend of Chris Oswald, a UNC graduate student who lives in UNC’s Odum Village apartments, said she was in town visiting when the assault occurred.

Caudle said she was smoking a cigarette on the back porch of the apartment Monday afternoon before 3 p.m. when a young white male walked by and asked her for a smoke.

When she declined, she said, the conversation escalated into an argument. She said the man stormed onto her porch, slammed her head against the apartment’s railing three times, knocked her to the ground while ripping her shirt and called her a derogatory name before fleeing.

Caudle said the assault left her with bruises covering one side of her face, including her eye.

She said she went inside after the assault and contacted Oswald, who was in a class, via Facebook. She said he then called the police.

When the paramedics and one policeman showed up, Caudle said, they searched Oswald’s room, suspecting him at first of the assault. Caudle said while they confirmed his alibi, they checked her injuries and asked questions.

Police then sent out a campus-wide notification via Alert Carolina at about 5:30 p.m.

But on Tuesday morning, Caudle said, police called her and Oswald into the station, questioned them individually, and asked her to take a lie detector test, which she refused.

Campus police spokesman Randy Young could not be reached for comment after multiple attempts last week.

“They separated me and my boyfriend and interrogated me about the assault,” Caudle said. “They asked him, was I capable of doing this for attention. They actually told me, ‘People don’t assault people for no reason.’”

She said she does not want to be swept under the rug and not taken seriously.

“I did not do this — I didn’t bang my face into a pole,” adding that she is worried the police will press charges for filing a false police report.

Caudle said she also believes her story should be taken more seriously, as the remark the suspect made was of a homophobic nature. Caudle said she has very short brown hair.

“He called her a dyke, slammed her down — it just sounds like a hate crime,” Oswald said.

Oswald said he and Caudle have talked to Student Affairs, and departments have reached out to them in support. He said the campus in general has been supportive.

But he said he doesn’t want to talk to the police again without legal representation because he’s unsure if police will try to charge Caudle.

“We didn’t want to cause trouble. When someone commits a crime, you usually report it,” Oswald said. “Now the police are trying to make it seem like we did the wrong thing.”

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.