Is It Really A Hate Crime When You Attack Yourself?

3/8/16 Saginaw News:

A woman who claimed she was called a homophobic slur and later punched and spit on at a Mount Pleasant bar after attending a Toby Keith concert last summer has pleaded guilty to filing a false police report.

Mari E. Poindexter told police that on Aug. 20 a man attacked her outside of The Cabin, 930 W. Broomfield.

"As I lay crouched on the pavement, he called me a cross-dressing fag," said Poindexter, a Central Michigan University faculty member, in a Facebook post. "(He) spat on me, leaving before I had the chance to get up."

Police investigated it as a hate crime, but according to the The Morning Sun, police said Poindexter later admitted she punched herself in the eye and made up the story to bring awareness LGBT community issues.

She was attacked for being lesbian by a homophobic professor!

Even better from the Central Michigan University student paper:

Poindexter's attorney Daniel O'Neil wrote to the court that his client has a passion for equal rights for the LGBTQ community.

"In fact, it was her passion for the cause that led her to use poor judgment in the current case," he wrote.

After the call, Poindexter sought psychiatric help in Grand Rapids. She was in psychiatric care in August when police found out about the false report. Because of the state of her mental health, Poindexter took a leave of absence from CMU.

The university's Office of LGBTQ Services released a statement on March 8, encouraging the community to show empathy for Poindexter.

"While facing mental health challenges does not absolve Mari of accountability, it helps us understand why our offering compassion rather than judgement and isolation is so important," it states.