The Newmarket Crown attorney's office has withdrawn assault charges against a Keswick teen after a schoolyard fight sparked by racial slurs.

"Our office has determined that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction and it would not be in the public interest to continue the prosecution," assistant Crown attorney Amit Ghosh told justice Peter Eourque. "The charge is to be withdrawn."

In a prepared statement, Ghosh told the court both boys apologized to each other after the incident, in which the accused broke the other teen's nose, and neither had had any prior difficulties with each other before the incident.

"While statements reveal (the accused) has not been a victim in the past of any bullying or hate-related comments, this verbal provocation and the assault upon him cannot be ignored when assessing the reasonable prospect of conviction," Ghosh added.

The teens had traded shoves and punches after one hurled a racial slur at the other in the Keswick High School gym following a rough-and-tumble game of speedball.

The two Grade 9 students suddenly found themselves front-page news when one of them, a Korean martial arts expert with a black belt, was charged with assault causing bodily harm after he broke the other youth's nose with a left-handed punch.

Days later, the arrest sparked an angry walkout of more than 400 students at Keswick High, who said the charged teen was only defending his honour after being racially insulted.

Furthermore, the injured youth threw the first punch and the black belt teen was only defending himself by returning it, the students told reporters.

York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge then stepped in and ordered an expanded investigation into whether the racial slurs played any role in the assault.

La Barge called in senior detectives and members of the hate crimes unit to take a second look at the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Last week, La Barge announced at a press conference that he was recommending to the Newmarket Crown attorney that charges be withdrawn, something only the crown can do.

La Barge went even further, criticizing the thoroughness of the initial investigation that resulted in the charges, saying it was "hasty."

This sparked an angry response from York Regional Police Association president John Miskiw, who called La Barge's comments a "slap in the face" to the two officers.

Additionally, Miskiw maintains the officers did the right thing in laying the charges and La Barge was wrong in recommending they be withdrawn.

La Barge emphasized the police investigation found that both teens were top students who had never been in any kind of trouble. The injured student has admitted he insulted the Korean teen in the heat of the moment and lashed out first. He has no history of showing racial intolerance or of bullying, La Barge added.

Meanwhile, the York Region District School Board suspended both boys, then 10 days later, flip-flopped and withdrew the suspension. An explusion hearing for the charged teen was cancelled.

All this has not played well with the parents of the charged teen, a straight-A student who lost 10 days of school. They say the racial taunts and the fact the injured teen punched first should have been taken into account in the initial investigation.

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If that had been done, the parents say they are confident charges would never have been laid.

But they are encouraged that this town of 46,000 with its own collection of embarrassing racial incidents – two years ago there were a spate of assaults against Asian fishermen that sparked criminal charges and a Human Rights Commission investigation – has stood behind their son.