FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 15-year-old boy threw a football against a pregnant teen's stomach twice, causing the baby to be born prematurely and die hours later, authorities said.
State prosecutors are reviewing the case to determine whether to file charges. Neither the boy nor the baby's mother, also 15, was identified.
The boy's age, intentions and state of mind will be considered, said Maria Schneider, assistant state attorney in charge of the Juvenile Division. She said she likely will make a decision in January; the boy is not in custody.
"When somebody shoots somebody in the head, it's very easy to say they wanted to kill the person. We're looking at a situation that's not that cut and dry," Schneider told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper said the death was not an accident, noting the boy threw the football twice.
Under Florida law, anyone who causes an unborn baby's death as a result of an attack on the baby's mother commits a homicide, Perper said. "It's very unfortunate," he told the newspaper. "Those things are really stupid things that shouldn't be done."
Schneider and Perper did not return phone messages Friday to The Associated Press.
According to a Broward County sheriff's report, the boy had asked the girl about two weeks earlier why her belly was "sticking out" and she answered that she was pregnant and due to give birth in a few months.
On Nov. 21, the teens were hanging out at Boys & Girls Club basketball court. He threw the football in her direction and she moved away. The boy then ran up to the girl, threw the ball at her stomach, picked up the ball and threw it at her stomach again, the sheriff's report says.
The girl gave birth the next day and the baby died soon afterward. The report does not say how far along the girl's pregnancy was.
Frank Till, CEO of the Broward Boys & Girls Clubs, declined comment.
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