Charges will be dropped against the three Rochester, N.Y., teens who were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while waiting for a school bus to take them to a basketball game.
According to USA Today, on Tuesday Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley refused to prosecute the case.
"After reviewing the facts associated with these arrests, I have decided to dismiss the charges in the interest of justice," she said in an emailed statement, according to the news site.
Raliek Redd, 16, Wan’Tauhjs Weathers, 17, and Daequon Carelock, 17, were arrested last week before Thanksgiving while they were waiting for a school bus, arranged by their coach, to take them to a basketball scrimmage.
According to the police, the boys were blocking the entrance to a business and obstructing sidewalk traffic. When an officer told them to move, they allegedly refused and were subsequently arrested.
However, according to the teens, they weren’t doing anything wrong.
"We tried to let him know … that we weren't bad kids. We were just waiting for a bus to go to a scrimmage. It seemed like he didn't care," Weathers said Tuesday, according to the news site.
"I said, 'You gotta believe us,' " Carelock added. "When we were all in handcuffs, he looked through our bags and seen all our basketball stuff, so you know we're not lying. We're all not down there with basketball stuff, just chilling."
Now the teens, who are members of Edison Tech High School’s varsity basketball team, and their coach, Jacob Scott, want an explanation.
"We can't continue grouping people and labeling them because a few particular individuals do some things, that everyone who looks like them are going to do those things," Scott said. "In the past there's been loitering, there's been fights at this particular location, but on this particular day, none of my guys were loitering, and none of them were fighting. They were just there waiting for the bus."
Read more at USA Today.