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HOWLAND – Charges were dismissed against a Liberty man who was wrongly accused of assaulting a young child earlier this month.
According to a police report obtained Friday, officers were called to Longhorn Steakhouse for reports of multiple people fighting in the restaurant. The officer spoke with a woman, who said her 10-year-old son had been assaulted by a man after an argument broke out, adding that she was speaking with a manager when a white, heavy set man with a gray beard began making loud racial comments toward her.
The report states the man made comments about her needing a discount and asking if a “welfare check” was paying for her meal, using a racial slur before throwing a drink at her table, leading her son to throw water back at the man.
The report states the man threw a glass plate, striking the boy, and it shattered and cut his arm and right hand.
The man then stood up and aggressively walked toward the child, calling him racial slurs, and a third-party witness stood behind the two, according to the report.
The man and the two people sitting at his table then left the restaurant without paying for their bill. The Howland Fire Department EMTs checked the boy’s injuries.
Court records show a charge was filed against the man, who was identified in a Bureau of Motor Vehicles photo after the vehicle’s plates were read and run through dispatchers several days later.
The man was arrested and appeared in court Thursday and his defense attorney, David Betras, made a motion to dismiss, which was granted, and the case was closed.
Betras said the charges were dropped because Howland police charged the wrong man after a witness identified the wrong person, according to reports.
A Howland police official said police had a third-party witness identify the person in the restaurant and Warren Municipal Court prosecutors authorized filing the charge.