MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – A 9-year-old girl lied about being grabbed by a stranger and thrown into the Clinton River along a boardwalk in Mount Clemens, the Macomb County Sheriff's Office said.
In a statement Friday, the office said the girl and her 14-year-old stepbrother had "fabricated" the story about the June 22 incident. Investigators said they had an independent witness who gave a different story and re-interviewed the family to learn that the girl had actually been swimming in the river when the man she said grabbed her actually fell into the water by accident. The man hit her as he fell.
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"She lost an earring and she was angry," the Sheriff's Office said.
The girl also initially told investigators she was 13, but she is 9.
A 48-year-old Mount Clemens man was charged with assault after the incident. The Sheriff's Office said it would be asking the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office to dismiss the charge.
The Sheriff's Office said it will also be asking for juvenile petitions against the girl and her stepbrother for filing a false felony report.