Prosecutors Drop Aggravated Assault Charges Against Black Boy In Dodgeball Incident

The 10-year-old Black boy who previously faced aggravated assault charges for unintentionally injuring a white boy during a dodgeball game is officially off the hook in the case.

Just days after Canton, Michigan officials reported that Bryce Lindley would be facing charges of aggravated assault, prompting people to call out the charges for being racist, Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that the charges had been dropped.

“This case came to us as a not-In-custody case — that means that there was never an arrest. Efforts were made to resolve this matter before it was sent to us for a charge consideration. The mother of the alleged victim had every right to go to the authorities, and the authorities had an obligation to investigate,” Worthy said in a statement, according to WXYZ Detroit. “When this case was reviewed by my office, no one paid attention to the race of either party. It is categorically wrong to suggest that this was charged based on race or geography.”

The decision to dismiss the case came just hours before defense lawyer and ex-prosecutor, Maurice Davis of Davis Law Group, who is representing 10-year-old Bryce Lindley, planned to hold a press conference to defend Bryce. Davis said there was “no coincidence” that the prosecutor dropped the charges merely hours before he planned on delivering his press conference.

“They knew they were completely wrong,” he continued, “but had [Bryce] not received the media attention that he did, he would be in court tomorrow at 9 AM as scheduled.”

Now, Davis is calling for Worthy’s office to “reevaluate” their method of authorizing charges. He says, “It is an abuse of power to charge a 10-year-old with aggravated assault over an accident at a playground.” In an earlier statement with Yahoo Lifestyle, Davis demanded that the “outlandish” charges to be dropped.

“You cannot criminally charge a child for participating in a dodgeball game at a school. If the school intends to hold this child criminally liable for a dodgeball game, then the prosecutors need to bring charges against all of the teachers and school employees that initiated the game, allowed the children to participate in the game, and supervised them during the game,” he wrote. “These charges are ridiculous.” Also, in the statement was a quote from Bryce’s mother, Cameishi. “My son is not a criminal… If every child that played a game of dodgeball and threw a dodgeball at another kid was thrown in jail, the vast majority of our country would be behind bars,” she said. “The only thing my son is guilty of is being a Black boy.”