An update on this story: “The quarterback for Lutheran planned to touch his knee to the ground to end the game, with Lutheran leading 48 to 6. Police said game officials knew this and instructed teams not to have contact after the snap. But players from Star Academy, according to police, went after the quarterback, knocking him to the ground and kicking him. The quarterback suffered a concussion.”
No, no assault there. At least not when the perpetrators are Muslims in Michigan. David Wood says it best: “Judge Mark Plawecki has sent a clear message to Muslim football players: If you’re getting humiliated by a Christian football team (e.g., losing 47-6), feel free to punish the infidels. Of course, if four Christian players had attacked a Muslim quarterback, we’d have seen an entirely different reaction from CAIR, the media, and Judge Plawecki.”
“After complaints from Arab-American and Muslim leaders, judge throws out assault charges against high school football players for on-field activity,” by Niraj Warikoo for the Detroit Free Press, April 5 (thanks to all who sent this in):
After complaints from Arab-American and Muslim leaders, a Dearborn Heights judge threw out assault and battery charges Wednesday that had been filed against four high school football players of Arab descent for on-field activity against an opposing team.
The four teenagers were charged Dec. 30 by Wayne County prosecutors with criminal misdemeanor charges stemming from an Oct. 21 game between their team, International Star Academy in Dearborn Heights, and Lutheran High School in Westland.
According to prosecutors, the four players rushed at the quarterback late in the game and tackled him after both teams and the referee had mutually agreed that the quarterback would kneel with the ball to run out the clock. The quarterback suffered a concussion.
Defense attorney Nabih Ayad said it was unprecedented for football players to be criminally charged for a late hit during a game. But the family of the quarterback has said he was viciously attacked.
In the decision, District Judge Mark Plawecki said that the person who charged the boys must have never seen a football game, according to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
Yes, the opposing team commonly charges the quarterback and starts kicking him. That happens every day.
The charges had come under fire from several civil rights groups, including the ADC, the NAACP, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Arab American Civil Rights League. They alleged the teens were charged because they were Muslims of Arab descent.
But Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said earlier this year that the office doesn’t “let race or ethnicity influence any of our charging decisions.”
Yes, you do. Just not in the way Hamas-linked CAIR was claiming.