By Daniel Moritz-Rabson
Breaking News Reporter
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Prosecutors in Michigan dropped the charges against a man accused last week of urinating on a 5-year-old black girl after they concluded that the story was false.
The Kent County Prosecutor's Office nullified the charges against the man Friday after determining that the children behind the claims had made up the story "to avoid trouble," according to CBS 62 of Detroit.
Police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, made the arrest late Wednesday after the girl's parents reported that a roughly 60-year-old white man had urinated on their daughter and called her a racial slur, according to the Associated Press.
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"Police talked to witnesses—two 7-year-old children and another 5-year-old—and determined the incident happened in an alley," Michigan news website MLive.com reported.
The suspect was held at the Kent County Jail while prosecutors were determining charges, according to the AP, and police said the children involved were offered counseling.
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Crimes or harassment involving urination and other bodily functions occur regularly across the country.
Earlier this year, an investigation detailed a culture of hate and discrimination at the Chicago Department of Water Management. The investigation found employees had levied myriad complaints against a veteran chemist who worked at the Jardine and Sawyer Water Purificaiton plants. The chemist was accused of putting copies of Mein Kampf on the black employees' desks and, in 2009, peeing in a coffee cup used by a black co-worker.
A white college student was charged at the end of October 2017 with third-degree criminal mischief and second-degree breach of peace after defiling the personal property of her black roommate, Chennel "Jazzy" Rowe. Brianna Brochu allegedly bragged online about actions taken to force Rowe to move out. She reportedly wrote, "Finally did it yo girl got rid of her roommate!! After 1½ month of spitting in her coconut oil, putting moldy clam dip in her lotions … putting her toothbrush places where the sun doesn't shine, and so much more I can finally say goodbye Jamaican Barbie."
The prosecutor in the case said in January there was not enough evidence to charge Brochu with a hate crime. "We don't have evidence to support that the conduct that Brianna Brochu engaged in was committed to intimidate or harass Miss Rowe because of her perceived race or ethnicity," Hartford State's Attorney Gail Hardy told the Associated Press.
Brochu was sentenced in March to 200 hours of community service and will have her charges cleared from her record if she completes her service program, avoids contact with Rowe, takes a mental health evaluation and does not get into further legal trouble.
And last year, Florida resident Sean Michael Allen was charged with engaging in sex acts with a 7-year-old child. Allen allegedly peed in her mouth.
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