A Pennsylvania woman says that she was attacked at an ATM in Pittsburgh by a robber, who proceeded to carve a “B” in her face when he saw her McCain bumper sticker. It turns out to be a lie and Ashley Todd, 20, of College Park, Texas, will be charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, and may face more charges.
The 20-year-old woman reported that a man approached her Wednesday night at an ATM, put a knife to her throat, and demanded money. She said that after she gave him $60 he stepped away but then became angry when he saw her McCain sticker. He punched and kicked her before cutting her face, according to her report. She described him as African-American, 6 feet 4 inches tall with a medium build and short dark hair, wearing dark clothing and shiny shoes.
The story unleashed an array of skepticism and speculation on the Internet as to whether this is a fabricated account. Police now say that it was a hoax — as many of our regulars on this blog thought from the outset.
For the full story, click here.
I agree paybac, let’s elect the best person, regardless of race, color, or creed. Vote for Ditka, go Bears!
As a black male. I’am glad the story, has proven to be un-true…..Now, let’s get on with, trying, to elect the best person. To be our next President.
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
She confessed to lying about the incident.
god, i just hope beck and savage get on the air tonight and appologise, but i doubt it.
why pgh, god, and we used to complain that pa. was ignored at election time!
It’s not rational to think that Obama’s workers are all saints. A Hoffstra grad tried to commit voter fraud while staying with a host family for a few days in Ohio and when the family got his voter registration card in that mail last week they notified the police. He may do time because he already early voted and may have absenteed voted in his home state too. Obama is NOT responsible for this and he is not responsible for the house with the McCain sign getting shot up or the destruction of property and vandalism done to a republican headquarter office in south carolina. Crazy people are everywhere and they exist on the left and right and probably in the middle. But don’t act like the Republicans vandalized their own offices and shot their own houses up and steal their own signs to get free pizzas because that is ABSURD. Obama is just one man and so is McCain and they cannot be held responsible for the crazy things that happen. It would be like blaming Jodie Foster because that guy that was obsessed with her shot Reagan for her. It is only the responsibility of the person who did the misdeed.
my=by
I think it went national b/c of the media’s attraction to the stereotypical white girl attacked my black man thing, but also b/c of the political implications.
This girl thought that the recent allegations of racism would make this a probable story. What she didn’t know is that our racism, here in Pittsburgh and Western Pa is all covert. We could tell this from a mile away. The ‘incident’ took place like 5 minutes from where I live. The ATM is in a very visible area with a lot of bars and restaurants around it.
The girl stated it ‘may have been politically motivated.’
I want to feel bad b/c of the history of mental illness, but…
I know it’s too soon, but…Now we know why the McCain campaign is acting like a crazy person. They’re hir…I’m sorry.
I think we need to put this down as some mentally unbalanced person seeking attention. Until we see any evidence that she was “under orders” to do this, I don’t feel we can attribute her actions to anyone else.
The McCain campaign messes up enough on their own, without having to be held accountable for a lone individual.
I think the more important question is why did this make the national news?
I pretty much figured this was a false accusation. But then again, it’s the Republican thing to do. Fear mongering and lies. Go figure. I hope that America can figure this out. It’s time for change!
People who are voting for Barack Obama are as respectful and smooth as he is. Our campaign has been the most efficient and professionally run campaign in US history. We are community organizers, and we are very good at it. We are respectful of all cultures, all ethnicities, and all Americans and their cultural values within their respective communities. We are good.
Given the fact that this person is using Obama organizers as a scapegoat, is the lowest form of unhealthy sickness I can think of. Politics before concern for health and safety? This is absurd.
It may have been an irrational, judgmental, prejudicial error made on her part to assume that someone would have been an Obama supporter jsut because he was black… but not all Obama supporters are black.
Any attempts to claim that those black people are uncivilized, have a real long lesson to learn. Black people have been in a very successful non-violent struggle here in this country, and are deserved of the same respect as anyone else in this country. Barack Obama is going to win this election… perhaps once all the racists witness how well he is doing as president, they will realize that egg is on their faces.
We had a famous case of another crazy girl like this hear in Atlanta a few ying wears back–The Runaway Bride aka Jennifer Wilbanks. She ran away because she still had feelings for some old boyfriend and then claimed she was kidnapped by a hispanic man and white woman. I have a feeling this girl also did it for a guy–maybe the guy she was up there stay with who was a McCain worker. I think she had some fatal attraction for this guy and that is why she went up to Pennsylvania and pulled this stunt in some twisted way to get his attention. Remember that Smith woman who drowned her kids and made up the story about the carjacker just because she wanted to bring her husband back to her. It usually has to do with a guy and I think she just latched on to something that was important to him and used this election as a means to an end. I feel sorry for the people on BOTH sides who have really had scary incidents like shooting at their house or pushing and being cursed/spat at. Their stories are not covered but the one that everyone knew was fake from the get-go is the one the media covers, it figures, because sensationalism sells better than reality!!!
So “Asley the victim” wanted a place in history as ‘Joe the plumber’ did.you can’t blame her for trying, it worked before.
It turned out that she was a fraud, butwe should cut her some slack since ‘Joe the plumber’ was not quite Joe, not a licensed plumber but an Ohio tax dodger and a registered republican.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/24/politics/main4543065.shtml?tag=lowerContent;homeSectionBlock250#Post
Quote from article:”the campaign paid $22,800 to Palin’s traveling stylist, Amy Strozzi, an acclaimed celebrity makeup artist. In contrast, McCain’s foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed.”
O my god, McCain spends more for lipstick on a pig (and a lot more for clothing) than he spends on the foreign policy adviser….’Country first!’ Senator!….and good luck handling the economy!
Straight Talk:
PITTSBURGH — A 20-year-old John McCain campaign volunteer has admitted to lying about being mugged and attacked by a man who carved a “B” into her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car, Pittsburgh police announced Friday
Ashley Todd, 20, will face charges for filing a false police report. Police said they had found several “inconsistencies” in her statements in which she claimed she was robbed at knifepoint at a Citizens Bank ATM in Bloomfield.
Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard would not say whether police doubted the story alleged by Todd, but bank surveillance footage did not show Todd at the ATM where she claims the assault took place.
Richard told FOX News that Todd had been staying with a male friend who lives down the street from the ATM.
A woman named Liz who answered the door at the residence where Todd arrived after her alleged attack told FOXNews.com that her roommate is friend’s with Todd, and he told Liz not to discuss any details about the incident. A Ford Taurus with a Texas license plate and a McCain-Palin sticker was parked outside.
Todd, from College Station, Texas, told police that on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET, a 6’4″ black male in dark jeans and a black tank top held her up at the ATM. According to a police report, Todd said the robber put a knife to her neck and demanded money. She said she gave him $60.
Todd, who is white, also told police that the robber then noticed the McCain bumper sticker on her car, punched her in the back of the head, knocked her down, and continued to punch and kick her while threatening to teach her a lesson.
“You are going to be a Barack supporter,” she recalled the robber saying before he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees and scratched the letter “B” on the right side of her face using what she believed to be a very dull knife. Then the robber fled, she said in the police report.
Richard said Todd later added to her tale, saying she was groped by the robber and lost consciousness during the assault. Neither of those details was in the original report.
Richard said after a second interview, Todd also was not as definitive about the assault or the motives behind it, nor could she say for certain whether the robber took $60 from her as she initially reported but maintains is missing.
Todd took a polygraph test late Thursday or early Friday after police heard the inconsistencies, Richard said.
‘There were major changes in her story” before and after the polygraph test, Richard said. As for the wound on her cheek, “it’s very shallow, it’s more of a scratch.”
Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department’s investigations division, said Todd can’t explain why she invented the story or explain how the “B” was scratched onto her face.
Before Todd’s admission, Richard said the police department was taking the report “very seriously” and considered Todd a “victim” while the investigation was ongoing. She noted that victims often tend to forget details of situations that happen to them under duress.
The area at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street where the attack had been alleged to have occurred is heavily traveled in the daytime, full of traffic, pedestrians, restaurants and stores. On Friday, Pittsburgh detectives were canvassing the area looking for witnesses. Before the police announcement, a detective told FOXNews.com that investigators had talked to a few people but had “nothing solid.”
Doug Graham, a neighbor of the residence where Todd’s friend lives, told FOXNews.com it’s unlikely an assault at the bank would go unnoticed.
“There ain’t no way nobody saw that,” Graham, whose home — where he has lived for a decade — sports a Barack Obama sign. “It’s always hopping up there. Something fishy, I knew the first second I saw (her story. Something fishy.”
Ethan Eilon, executive director of the College Republicans National Committee, told FOX News Todd was volunteering as a field representative through his organization and that she had taken a year off from her studies at Blinn College to work on the campaign.
Todd received a call from the Republican presidential nominee and has spoken with her family. Barack Obama’s local campaign team also issued well-wishes to the Texas resident.
FOX News’ Judson Berger and Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Glad to see that CNN has put this retraction on the home page, top link. Unfortunately it will be hard to contain the rumor. I’m sure we’ll be seeing this in ALL CAPS emails from our credulous relatives until election day. Go Snopes!
Dirty bitch should be thrown in jail. The Republicans will stoop to any level. Racist bastards!
the “B” was backwards and also it looked like it was done with a lipstick…now thats mysterious…lol now she knows she lied lol
…and of course I meant “rode”, not “road”…
OK… I have to admit that, at this stage of my life, I’ve begun to see some humor in these occasional false black-man-mugged-me reports, BUT… On the serious side, I now think that these people should be charged with more than the normal “making a false report”; If there are extenuating circumstances —such as trying to incite hate or fear by blaming it on someone of another race/religion/ethnic group— the charge should be elevated in the same manner that other charges are labeled “hate crimes”.
“Thank-you” to all the folks who received this story with a healthy measure of skepticism. And to all the McCain/Palin cheerleaders who road this hate vehicle… This is not the first time you got duped by a total BS story. You probably believed Bush and the WMD story. Will you not EVER learn in your lifetime? Sadly, you’re too stupid to realize that, in Barack Hussein Obama, you will be benefitting from the best available candidate. Jerks…
The positive side of this report is that this sick little twerp will have the honor of having the first initial of the next President of the United States emblazoned on her fat face! (She, of course, could also take it to mean Biden, Black, or Bullsh*t.) What a loser…
Susan Smith called…she wants her hoax story back.