Prosecutor admits it was a “mistake” to charge Black student with a crime in a game of dodgeball

The Wayne County, Michigan prosecutor’s office admits that it was a mistake to have charged a 10-year-old Black boy with aggravated assault over a school dodgeball game.

Kia Morgan-Smith

Aug 9, 2019

The Wayne County, Michigan prosecutor’s office charged a 10-year-old Black boy with a crime in a playground game of dodgeball. But prosecutor Kym Worthy last week made her office drop the charges, and she’s now admitting outright that it was a mistake in the first place.

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“The charge in this case was a mistake in judgment by this office, even though it was rectified by permanently dismissing the case on July 31, 2019, prior to the first scheduled court proceeding,” Worthy wrote in a letter to Maurice Davis, the family attorney of Bryce Lindley, Yahoo reports.

Worthy continued, “To be clear, my office will not be refiling this petition, nor was it ever the intent of our office to do so. I have taken this extremely seriously, and concrete steps have already been made. I am currently reviewing the policies and procedures of our Juvenile Division and re-enforcing internal measures to prevent a similar matter from occurring in the future.”

Bryce was charged last month with aggravated assault over a school dodgeball game, for hitting another boy whose mother said he was medically fragile.

Cameishi Lindley, the mother of Bryce, says she was upset when the Wayne County Juvenile Court called her and said that he would be charged with aggravated assault for reportedly hitting another boy in the face with a ball at their school in Canton, Mich.

The incident happened on April 29th at Ruth Eriksson Elementary, and the boy struck in the face with the ball was injured. According to the injured boy’s mom, her son, whom she declined to name, has a medical condition that makes these type of head injuries particularly harmful.

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Lindley hired Maurice Davis to help fight the charges.

“You cannot criminally charge a child for participating in a dodgeball game at a school,” Davis said in a statement. “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.”