2 University Of Arizona Students Identified In Assault On Black Student

University of Arizona Police have identified the two white students who were arrested in connection with the assault of a black student on campus earlier this week. Matthew Spencer Rawlings, age 19, and Matthew Reed Frazier, age 20 are facing misdemeanor assault charges.

The case will now go to the Pima County Attorney’s Office to review if charges should be filed.

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins addressed the reported assault in a letter to students on Thursday, writing part, “I want our community to know that racism, bias and violence will not be tolerated at this University. I will be working with members of my administration to ensure we have a comprehensive response to issues of bias and discrimination on campus and that we are promoting and fostering our core value of inclusion.”

The two students were described as smelling of intoxicants when they were arrested shortly after the attack.

According to the redacted police report, the victim was walking northbound and Rawlings and Frazier were were walking southbound when they began calling the victim the “N-word,” then one of the males tripped, ran up and “tackled” him. The victim he said the male started punching him in “the head like five times.” The victim said he was also kicked while on the ground by a second person the victim did not know which suspect ran towards him and added that he could not describe either subject as everything happened so fast. The victim was very upset over the use of the “N-word” during the altercation, however he was unsure if the assault was racially motivated. When asked about what he was called he would only refer to the “N-word” and said he couldn’t deal with it.

The sustained minor injuries consisting of scrapes on the back of his right hand knuckles and scrapes on both right elbow and knee.

A witness saw the altercation when he was dropping off his girlfriend when he noticed two young men walking south. He said he saw Frazier engage the victim by tackling him to the ground and the second subject, wearing a white shirt (Rawlings), began kicking him. The witness added that he could hear Rawlings call the victim a “pussy-ass bitch” while he was kicking him.

This article was updated at 11:18 p.m. September 14.