DETROIT – A Detroit teen arrested for allegedly throwing a snowball at a school police cruiser spent nearly 40 days behind bars before a judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence.

Dominique Rondeau, 18, is now suing the city for false arrest and malicious prosecution, and alleges officers violated his rights by arresting him without a warrant or probable cause, the Detroit Free Press reports.

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“It was all so trumped up,” Rondeau’s attorney, Wolf Mueller, told the news site. “How does it even get this far? Didn’t anybody look at the video?”

Two school district police officer allege Rondeau threw a clump of ice and snow at a police car outside of East English Village High School on Dec. 16, 2014. Officer Floyd Jenkins wrote in a police report that “a large white object thrown from a crowd of three to four male students” smashed the car’s windshield.

Jenkins and officer Freddie Wilson contend a school security video later showed Rondeau was the culprit, and they arrested him at his grandmother’s house a short time later. Rondeau, who is reportedly emotionally impaired, denied throwing the snowball.

“They knocked,” Rondeau told the Free Press. “I cracked the big door open to see who it was. … They opened the (screen) door, and they just walked in, and they started putting me in handcuffs.”

Rondeau was hauled off to juvenile detention after a judge charged him with destroying police property, and he remained locked up for nearly 40 days – through Christmas and New Year’s – because his family couldn’t afford the $2,000 bond to release him, 13 WMAZ reports.

On Feb. 26, the officers testified they could see Rondeau on video throwing the snowball, but could not identify the teen when the security video was played in court. The officers allege the video equipment in the courtroom could not sufficiently enhance the video, which was the only evidence in the case.

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So a judge dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.

“The only evidence they had was the camera, and the camera couldn’t see anything,” Rondeau said.

The teen was previously arrested in September 2013 for allegedly kicking and pushing a school police officer as the officer attempted to disperse a crowd near the school. The prosecutor’s office did not pursue that charge because of “typographical errors” in the police report, but fixed and resubmitted the charges after Rondeau’s snowball case was dismissed, the Free Press reports.

Sheron Rondeau, the student’s mother, told the media her son is the victim.

“There’s a fear now,” she said. “He doesn’t trust police officers.”

The Free Press reports Rondeau was found responsible for the assault case, but told a judge he was moving to Oklahoma with a relative, so the judge canceled his intensive probation. Rondeau told the news site he now plans to attend King High School in Detroit.

The family is suing the two officers involved in the snowball debacle, as well as the school district. The Rondeaus are seeking a jury trial and unspecified monetary damages, 13 WMAZ reports.