UNC Freshman Accused of Filing False Hate Crime Report

A North Carolina college freshman who reported an anti-gay attack, claiming a man burned his hand and called him a slur, made the story up, authorities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said Tuesday.

Quinn Matney told campus police he was standing on a foot bridge near his dorm last week when a college-aged man called him an anti-gay slur and pressed a hot piece of metal to his left wrist, Newsobserver.com reports.

"The Department of Public Safety has determined that the alleged aggravated assault ... did not occur,” Chancellor Holden Thorp said in a message to the campus community. “That report, filed with campus police on April 5, was false."

University officials will no longer proceed with plans to report the incident as a hate crime to the federal government, according to Newsobserver.com.

"It is important to recognize that incidents of harassment do occur," Thorp said in the statement. "When they do, we take them seriously. We strive to foster a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment at Carolina.”

Matney will likely face charges from UNC campus police, according to Karen Moon, interim news director at UNC News Services.