The really interesting question is this: Are the "hate crimes" revealed to be hoaxes really the outliers? Or are they almost all hoaxes, and for various reasons only a small fraction of them get revealed as such?
The liberal Detroit Free Press, which would have you believe the entire nation is experiencing an epidemic of racist hate crimes, cannot have enjoyed reporting this story. But when the police make a public statement that their "victim" made the whole thing up, what else could they do?