Charges have been dropped in a racially charged assault case involving a 10-year-old black boy — which caught the attention of comedian D.L. Hughley, Michigan prosecutors said Wednesday.
The boy was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault for allegedly beaning his 9-year-old white classmate in the face with a rubber ball at Eriksson Elementary School in Canton.
But Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy tossed the charge one day after it was filed, insisting that race wasn’t a factor, as both the 10-year-old boy’s mother and Hughley have claimed.
“While the charge in this case is certainly sustainable, I have instructed my staff to dismiss this case today,” Worthy said in a statement obtained by The Post. “It is my earnest hope that both sides will come back to the table to work out a solution that benefits both of these children.”
Worthy said no one in her office “paid attention to the race” of either boy as the case was reviewed.
The April 29 incident, which happened during a game of tips, drew ire from Hughley.
“When you’re black any ole reason will do to hem you up,” the actor and political commentator tweeted Tuesday. “They both were playing a game where the object is to throw the ball hard! WTF?”
The game of tips — where players stand in a circle and try to catch a ball as they jump in the air — does not involve throwing the ball at other players. The black boy hit his white classmate in the face after the game was over, leaving the younger student with a concussion and cuts to the face, Worthy said.
“Efforts were made to resolve this matter before it was sent to us for a charge consideration,” Worthy’s statement continued. “The mother of the alleged victim had every right to go to the authorities and the authorities had an obligation to investigate.”
But the mother of the alleged victim — who has a congenital brain defect that makes him more susceptible to injuries — claims it wasn’t the first time the older classmate targeted her son.
“My son was hit twice in the face with the ball previously due to this, and the child apologized to my son,” the 9-year-old boy’s mother told WXYZ. “And he said, ‘Mom, it’s OK, we’re still going to be friends.’”
The 10-year-old boy was suspended for a day after the incident, which should have been adequate punishment, according to his mother.
“I couldn’t believe it,” mom Cameishi Lindley told WXYZ on Monday prior to the aggravated assault charge being dismissed. “These kids are basically playing a game that we all have played — sorry that her child got hurt. I’d be sorry for any child that got hurt.”