Three Penn State students and one alumna are alleging a Penn State University Police officer made a racially discriminating remark toward them Tuesday afternoon.

A Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) bus driver called police after four black women attempted to get on a Blue Loop bus and were denied when the driver told them she was finished loading everyone and no one else was allowed on, University Police Assistant Director Tyrone Parham said.

Anne Somefun (junior-psychology), one of the black women, said a university police officer responded to a confrontation between the black women and a white woman on the bus by saying, "When four black girls are coming toward a white girl, I have to do something about it."

Parham said he could not comment on specifics, but an investigation is ongoing and the women were at the police station filing statements.

"A complaint against an officer is a personnel matter," he said.

The women who filed complaints -- Somefun, Tiffani Gilliam, Class of 2005, Tiffani Armstead (senior-public relations) and Alexis Augustin (senior-science) -- said they just came from their friend Tyrone Myers' memorial service and were carrying food and other items from the reception.

"We had our hands full, and it was raining; we saw a Blue Loop and ran to it," Somefun said. "One of us held the door while the others made it to the bus."

CATA Service Development Manager Eric Bernier said he could comment only on the operational matters of the incident, not the racial discrimination claims.

"All I can say for certain is that yes, there was an incident involving someone on the bus who stood in the doorway and prevented the bus driver from moving forward until the friends were let on," he said.

When on the bus, Somefun said the driver told them to get off or she would call the police.

They started crying, Gilliam said, because they were upset from both the memorial service and the way the driver was talking to them.

"The students on the bus started yelling at us, too," she said. "We just sat down and wanted the bus to move ... we were too sad and tired to get off."

At that point, police arrived, and the white woman came toward them from the back of the bus, Somefun said.

"It looked like she was going to hit us," Somefun said. "So the cop grabbed onto us."

More university police were called, and when the women were telling their story to the police, Somefun said, the officer made the racial remark.

Parham said he couldn't comment on the allegations, but he did say police received a call around 5 p.m. from CATA that there had been a disturbance on the bus. The white woman's identity was not released.

"We got notice of a verbal altercation," he said. "We are interviewing people who may have been a witness and trying to see if there was a wrongdoing."

The women said they did nothing to deserve the kind of treatment they endured by the police officer.

"That was flat-out racism," Somefun said. "We must do something about this."