BALLSTON SPA — Assault charges filed against a 17-year-old girl in an alleged stabbing at a Halfmoon apartment complex were dismissed in Saratoga County Family Court on Tuesday. She’s the same teenager seen on video in an earlier separate incident trying to pull a Saratoga County sheriff’s deputy away from her autistic brother at Target in Clifton Park.
Her attorney, Jasper Mills, says she and her family are being intimidated by the police. Mills said the assault charges involved in the alleged stabbing were dismissed because there was no evidence his client stabbed another teenage girl in Halfmoon early Thursday morning during an apparent argument over a boy.
The Times Union is not naming Mills’ client because she is underage.
“You have adversarial instruments that were drafted that were at least exaggerated,” Mills said. “In the supporting deposition, the alleged victim said he did not know how or when he got cut. It was a statement attached to an accusatory instrument, so you can’t necessarily accuse someone specifically of stabbing another person when the victim says they don’t know how or when they were cut.
State police initially charged the accused teen with possession of a felony weapon, a charge dismissed at her arraignment Thursday, as well as endangering the welfare of a child and assault. criminal. The charge of endangering the welfare of a child was also dismissed on Tuesday.
Mills’ client still faces a felony assault charge for the incident at Clifton Park Target on April 18 in which police allege she hit the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Deputy with a rack. soap after dumping his 14-year-old autistic brother in the store. stage.
Since that incident, which was caught on video, the girl and her family, Mills said, have been targeted by police. This includes, he said, authorities ransacking the family’s home for evidence of blood in the alleged stabbing case, even though the incident did not occur at inside the house.
“The family is terrified, absolutely terrified,” Mills said. “They haven’t been back since. I believe there is continued bullish behavior from the police regarding my client and her family. They are constantly harassed and they are afraid. I don’t know if that would happen without that incident at Target.
Mills said his client, who is black, would not suffer at the hands of police if she was white.
State police said they could not comment on the Halfmoon stabbing as it is an ongoing investigation. Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen said she also couldn’t comment because court documents are sealed.
As for the Target case, Heggen said it would be handled by Saratoga County attorney Michael Hartnett because the defendant is a minor and the incident “did not meet the criteria for significant physical injury.” .
The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Deputy and the two Target teens were injured in the fight at the store. MPs never filed a complaint against the autistic boy who his mother said suffered a head injury when he was thrown to the ground.
“If law enforcement has done something wrong, they should own up to the wrongs and move on,” Mills said. “Bullying is totally inappropriate.”
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