Out of the mouths of babes came a horrific story of a man urinating on a black child while shouting a racist epithet. The children told police of the hate crime and almost immediately, Grand Rapids, Michigan police arrested an unidentified 60 year old man after canvassing the neighborhood.

But the parents of the children, 5 to 7 years of age, got suspicious and discovered after questioning their kids that they had made the whole thing up. 

The NAACP had immediately branded the incident a hate crime and sexual assault and that the perpetrator should be prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law."

MLive:

Police said several children, all 7 or younger, were playing together sometime before 6 p.m. Wednesday when one of the children urinated on the 5-year-old girl.

Kent County prosecutors said the parents of the children, in talking with them, ultimately determined the children "concocted the story to avoid trouble."

"We appreciate the conscientiousness of the parents in bringing the matter to the attention of the police, and continuing to ask their children questions as new evidence was obtained," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the 60--year-old man had a "verifiable alibi" from other people who vouched for his whereabouts.

The allegations, when first reported late Wednesday, caused concern across the community and NAACP leaders on Friday said the incident should be considered both a hate crime and sex assault.

In the initial report, the children told police they were playing hide-and-go-seek along Courtney Street NW, just west of Tamarack Avenue, when a man urinated on the girl through a chain-link fence.

The children have learned well the lessons taught to them by adults. But what have the adults learned?

The man arrested apparently had a history of mental illness and sexual assault. But in this case, the police did not rush to judgment, preferring a thorough investigation to ginning up hysteria and outrage against an innocent man.

The same could not be said of the local NAACP:

"This is clearly a case of child molestation, as well as a hate crime, and should be treated as such," Cle Jackson, president of the Greater Grand Rapids National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a Friday, Aug. 24, statement.

[...]

The local NAACP is "demanding" that prosecutors charge the man with sexual assault, assault and a hate crime. The organization is "monitoring the situation and working with law enforcement to ensure that all investigative processes are thorough."

It said that if charges are filed the man should "be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

To the NAACP, there was no question but to believe 7 year old kids. That they claimed it was "clearly" a crime that had been committed, didn't leave much room if they were proved wrong.

They were and now there's another victim of a rush to judgment by activists more interested in making hay out of a potentially horrific incident than the truth.

There is no doubt that many "hate crimes" that are committed actually happen. But far too many reported "hate crimes" are nothing more than people seeking attention from the national media which tends to dwell on these incidents. The answer is for police and prosecutors to throw the book at the hoaxers and send them to jail.

That shouldn't happen in the case of these kids, but someone should give them a good talking to in order to prevent this from happening again.