Supposedly there’s way more to the story.
https://1819news.com/news/item/father-of-injured-deshler-high-school-student-august-borden-shocked-and-appalled-at-madison-county-das-decision-not-to-press-charges-this-case-is-far-from-over
Sounds like the Madison County DA got just one side of the story.
Is the injured boy conscious? Even so, with a traumatic head injury, he might not even recall the injury event.
If there’s a back story, such as friction between the injured boy and the football star, it might be difficult to get classmates to confirm.
I read the link you provided, and even drilled down further on links in the article, but all of them that I followed went back to the father of the injured boy saying he thought the school was lying and he thinks something different happened.
He doesn’t have any proof. There isn’t any video (that has been found). If there were any witnesses to a different dynamic between the two, none of them have come forward. Because the school started off saying they thought the kid might have had a seizure, and after that said there was another kid involved is what makes the father think he is being lied to.
I think they should absolutely interview other kids, coaches, and teachers. I don’t know how much of that they did, but unless they can spot inconsistencies, the father’s suspicions cannot be corroborated.
But if they do interview the people about the nature of the relationship between the kid and the other person involved, I would think the interrogation might go something like this:
DETECTIVE: Did Joe and Shevon hang around together?
KID 1: Well, no. Joe was one of my good friends, and I hung around him a lot, and never saw them even acknowledge the other. They were on the team together and didn’t really interact. I was on the team, and never saw them even speak to each other before, either during team activities or in school in general.
And when another kid is interviewed:
DETECTIVE: Did Joe and Shevon hang around together?
KID 2: Sure. They were friends and used to kid each other and wrestle around. Shevon had a good friendship with them. I saw them together all the time.
DETECTIVE: Were you good friends with Shevon?
KID 2: Yes. He had a lot of friends, because Shevon was one of the best players on the team. Joe was a quiet kid who was on the team, but I know Shevon liked him. He would never do anything to hurt someone like Joe.
I support the sentiment to do a real investigation, but honestly, it is going to be circumstantial at best unless some kid really decides to open up about it, which could happen being interrogated by a detective.
I just think that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and the original disparity between a kid having a seizure by himself and falling down stairs, and another kid giving a bear hug is entirely possible. Early on, things can be confused.
Unless someone lies and gets caught, there isn’t any way a different story can be verified.