10-year-old boy charged with assault after hitting classmate in face with ball

Prosecutors drop charge and encourage families to find solution

The students were playing 'tips' in which they jumped to catch a rubber ball that had been thrown in the air (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A 10-year-old boy was charged with aggravated assault after hitting a 9-year-old classmate with a rubber ball.

Students at a Canton Township school in Detroit were playing “tips” on 29 April, in which they jumped to catch a ball that had been thrown in the air.

The Wayne County prosecutor’s office said when the game ended the older boy threw the ball “with force”, causing his classmate to suffer a concussion.

The older boy’s mother said the only thing her son was guilty of was “being a black boy”.

However, the charge was dropped a day after it was filed on Tuesday.

Wayne County prosecutor Kim Worthy said there was a “better way to go forward” than to take the child to juvenile court.

Ms Worthy encouraged the families to find a solution.

She said the mother’s claim race was a factor in the investigation was “categorically wrong”.