The Fairway teen charged last year in a high school hallway fight that had racial overtones has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced June 20, according to Johnson County District Dourt records.
The male student, 16, faced a charge of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, a level 4 felony. The Post is not naming him because he is a minor.
A fight in the hallway in November 2023
The charges were filed in connection to an incident at Shawnee Mission East High School on Nov. 15, 2023. The incident received widespread publicity about two weeks later after a video was posted by independent media organization The Kansas City Defender.
The video showed an exchange of words between students in a SM East hallway. In the video, a white male student charged down the hall toward a Black female student, later identified as Brey’Anna Brown.
The male student can be seen in the video shoving Brown and calling out the N-word. A fight ensued between the two, reportedly leaving Brown, a sophomore at the time, with a broken nose.
The male student, who was 15 at the time, had been facing a jury trial, but that was canceled and the case was scheduled for mediation this month.
Students protested, brought concerns to school board
The incident prompted protests from students at SM East who said racial comments and incidents were not new to the district and urged school officials to take them more seriously.
At a December school board meeting, several students and parents showed up to voice concerns about the handling of the incident and the district’s broader approach to addressing racial diversity.
Brown’s parents, Shaun and Linkya Brown, were not immediately available Thursday morning to comment on the guilty plea. But in an interview with WDAF-TV, Brey’Anna said she was happy the male student admitted wrongdoing.
Linkya said her daughter had since transferred schools, but the latest plea will be another step toward moving on.
“I’m just excited about it because I feel like that is closing a chapter for Brey’anna,” Linyka said. “He pled guilty and she can move on. We started moving with her switching schools, but this is just a breath of fresh air.”
