After receiving significant public pushback, Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard is defending his decision not to press charges in the case involving an injured student at Deshler High School, saying it was a simple case of horseplay gone wrong and calling "conspiracy theories" to the contrary "delusional."
"I think the public naturally looks, 'Oh my goodness, look at these injuries. Somebody's got to be charged.' And look, under the law, the law focuses on individuals and their conduct," Broussard said on Thursday's episode of WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show."
On August 15, freshman August Borden suffered major head and face trauma while walking from the main school building to the football field. He was found unconscious and had to be airlifted to an ICU in Birmingham. Borden's parents were initially told another student was involved, but later heard from Tuscumbia City Schools officials that it was an accidental fall.
"What we're focused on is the conduct of the other student. What it amounted to was horsing around and kind of a bear hug from behind as they're walking," Broussard said. "And if that becomes criminal in our society, we're going to be in big trouble because I guarantee you could probably find a thousand cases a day in the schools where kids are touching one another, pushing a little bit like that, where there's really no malice involved, and there's nothing inherent about the conduct that's reckless. And I know people don't want to believe that," he continued. "It's like, 'Oh my God, the injuries were so terrible.' And I'm not denying that, but look at every car wreck that happened, Dale. You know, if that was our standard, somebody's killed on 565, well, we're going to do a criminal prosecution on somebody."
Broussard described the incident, saying Borden was released from the bear hug after going limp.
"He didn't roll down the steps, and really, the other student didn't drop him. They were just kind of walking along in stride, and he said, 'I felt him. It almost felt like he went limp, so I let go of him.' And the injured student kind of catapulted forward. He kind of came off a little ledge. His knees hit," he said. "And then, by all the witnesses' description, the ones who actually saw it, he whips forward, and his face hit on concrete. And there was kind of an uneven edge on the concrete."
Broussard disputed the claim allegedly made by Borden's doctors that his injuries were more in line with an assault.
"We're not doctors, and we don't have to prove exactly why did his skull fracture the way it did," he said. "...They had the opinion of a doctor who said it was consistent with a beatdown. Well, yeah, OK. But guess what? It's consistent with slapping down face forward on concrete that's got a seam in it. And the surface has entered your orbital area. And no matter what, you know, Dale, all we can do, we don't go on all the rumors and speculation. All we can do is start an investigation, and man, I put some bang-up investigators on it."
Broussard said the investigation included text messages from students and staff who witnessed the incident.
"The text messages of interest were the real-time text messages, like kids who had texted their parents in almost real-time right after it happened. I mean, there's so much validity to that. Now, we weren't scouring students' text messages over in Colbert County since then, because good God, there's no telling what all you'd get."
He continued, "It was a pure investigation. It was, let's get to the people who are around him, and there's only going to be a limited number of people. One of them a coach, and other students, and they were consistent in the statements. One of the statements given was by the injured student's good friend, you know. So there was no, oh, it's a conspiracy, and it's the football team, and they're covering. That's delusional. I'm sorry, but it is."
Responding to Borden's father's assertion that he may continue to pursue the case, Broussard said it was over as far as he's concerned.
"There's all kinds of avenues in the justice system. One of them is criminal, and then you get into the world of civil lawsuits and all that. So maybe he means it isn't over that way. But as far as the criminal side of it, Dale, it's over," he said.
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