The allegations in the case from just a few years ago were horrific: White middle-school students in Plano, Texas, were accused of repeatedly firing BB guns at a black classmate and forced him to drink a cup of urine in an episode that amounted to “torture.”
The mother of the “victim” and a lawyer launched a media tour and those giving them a platform to call one particular white student “evil” included CBS, NBC, CNN, Business Insider, People, Daily Mail and others.
But a jury, including black members, now has ruled it all was a hoax and the perpetrators are obligated to pay the white student $3.2 million in damages.
The fight has been profiled by the Free Beacon, which pointed out the massive “media coverage” over the March 2021 situation.
There, it was alleged white middle-schoolers tortured SeMarion Humphrey, a black classmate.
“A Black Lives Matter activist group charged the local public school district with doing ‘nothing’ to stop ‘this racially motivated hate crime” as violent protests broke out outside the home of Asher Vann, the white child alleged to have organized the brutal attack,” the report said.
A GoFundMe account raised nearly $120,000 for Humphrey’s “therapy.”
The NAACP and a Black Lives Matter-tied group sounded off.
But following a jury ruling just days ago, Texas District Judge Benjamin Smith ordered Humphrey’s mother, Summer Smith, and lawyer, Kim Cole to pay up.
“The jury determined that Cole and Smith cooked up the scheme to raise their public profiles during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and to rake in money through GoFundMe,” the report said.
In fact, the report said, most of the GoFundMe money went toward “a designer dog, dining and travel, beauty products, liquor, vapes, cell phones, car payments, and rent.”
Smith insists she’s pursuing an appeal.
But the report said the situation that triggered the wildfire was a case of bored kids acting out.
What did happen was that a group of friends were “left to their own devices” during a winter storm.
Plano police officer Patricia McClure said the group set up a sleepover during the storm.
Several friends came by and “they all decided to go outside and ‘hunt frogs’ with BB guns and airsoft rifles.” But there were no frogs.
“With everyone geared up in bulky winter clothing and paintball masks, the children decided to play another game.” And they shot at each other, police confirmed.
“Everyone got shot and everyone shot someone,” Vann confirmed.
The urine was actually in a cup, but no one drank it, the report said.
Vann said he ended up with death threats “from thousands of people.”