18-year-old black man who assaulted Macy's employee will be charged and can get 10 years in prison

The young black man who attacked a Macy’s employee at the Genesee Valley Center in Flint less than two weeks ago can be charged with felony.

18-year-old Damier Palmer, who brutally attacked a white Macy’s employee in the incident which was recorded on video, can be charged with assault to do great bodily harm less than murder and can spent 10 years behind bars.

The video shot by Palmer’s brother went viral on the social media. The investigators are now looking for both brothers in the connection with the incident.

On Friday, the Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton stated that the evidence in the case and in the eighteen-second video clip point only to the attack, it’s enough to file charges against one person.

Leyton also admitted that there was no evidence of provocation form a store’s manager that could cause the suspect to sucker-punch him and knock him down to the floor.

“This was an unprovoked attack,” Leyton said. “The internal video for Macy's shows the suspect approaching from behind the victim. The store manager appears unaware that he's even there.”

“He's [victim] emotionally upset to think that anybody would think he said the alleged vile, racial, provoking slur; because he says he didn't say it, and his history suggests he didn't say it.”

The two, Palmer and his victim, didn’t even talk to each other before the assault.

“The assailant said to the store manager, ‘Does this jacket fit?’ And the store manager said to him, ‘No, it's too small,’” Leyton explained. “Even if there were verbal provocation, which we have no evidence of, violent retaliation is not permitted by the law.”

The prosecutor has already met with members of the community in transparency, letting them know why he reached this decision.