PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Portage student suspended for posting a racist video on Snapchat will not be facing any criminal charges.
The video came to light in December after it showed an 18-year-old junior from Portage Central High School pointing an airsoft gun at the camera while using expletives and racial slurs.
Portage Public Safety officers forwarded the case to the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office requesting charges of ethnic intimidation, making an intentional threat to a school, or cyberbullying, but the office declined to authorize charges against the suspect.
The Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office released a statement saying that both the defendant and the witness interviewed indicated that there was no criminal intent behind the video, there was no specific threat to one individual or specific school, and that he did not post the message to place any person in fear of harm.
The student was suspended on December 16th when the Snapchat video he sent to his friends the weekend before started to circulated among students in the area.
Portage Public Schools said that the language used by the student does not reflect the district and that their schools do all they can to protect and respect students of color.
The student’s name is not being released because he is a minor.
