Family Demands Justice After Drowning of 8-Year-Old Black Boy

A Black family in Jesup, Georgia, believes there are even more people at fault after police initially ruled an 8-year-old’s death an “accidental drowning.”

NBC News reported that it took the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department 55 days to treat Noah Bush’s death as a homicide after he was found in a flooded construction “borrow pit” on May 16, a day after his family reported him missing.

Noah’s mother Demetrice Michelle said she last saw her son after he went to play outside with two new friends, aged 10 and 11. The boys were captured on Ring camera footage headed in the direction of the pit. However, in other footage the boys were seen walking back from the area with one of their mothers, but without Noah.

On July 10, the 10-year-old and an unidentified 11-year-old were arrested and charged with “concealing the death of another.” Meanwhile, the 11-year-old was reportedly charged with “involuntary manslaughter.” The mother of one of the boys, Natalie Hardison, was charged with giving false statements to police.

Michelle said police initially told her that Noah took off his clothing and crossed over into the borrow pit willingly, but she said that couldn’t be correct because water “wasn’t his thing.”

Michelle’s attorney, Francys Johnson, is now pressing for a greater investigation into Noah’s death because the family believes more people are at fault for covering up his death, NBC reported.

“The sheriff had the statements of these boys from within 48 hours of Noah’s drowning. So to let this mother be led to believe that this was an accidental drowning for that long and to not inform the community is just really hard,” Johnson said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.