Overview
- Allen County prosecutors announced in early August that they will not file criminal charges after a multiweek review of surveillance video, witness statements and recordings.
- The county coroner ruled the cause of death was an acute exacerbation of congestive heart failure in the setting of a physical altercation and listed the manner of death as undetermined.
- The May 13 incident began when Anita Grayson confronted a 17-year-old employee, and investigators say a 20-year-old shift manager intervened before the two became physically engaged and Grayson later became unresponsive.
- Prosecutors concluded the manager’s contact was meant to de-escalate and to defend a third person, and they said the state could not disprove that legal justification beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Grayson’s family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to explore civil remedies, a step that highlights the difference between the criminal standard of proof and the lower burden in civil cases and that could lead to further legal review.