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James White, 46, was placed under citizen's arrest after a Feb. 25 confrontation in which he is accused of pushing a man and striking him with his fists at the store. On Friday morning, Juneau District Court Judge Keith B. Levy scheduled a jury trial in the case for May 10. Defense Attorney Louis Menendez had asked for a jury trial.

The case city prosecutors brought against White was dismissed in favor of a case brought by the state on the same fourth-degree assault charge. White had appeared on the city charge Monday before Juneau District Magistrate John W. Sivertsen Jr.

"The city asked the state to do it," Alaska Senior Attorney Richard Svobodny, representing the Juneau District Attorney's Office, said after leaving the courtroom. "Resource issues," he added.

The potential sentence for the crime does not change, Menendez, said.

Menendez said prosecutors had consented to White leaving Juneau for Bend, Ore.

Levy approved the change in White's conditions of release, which had prohibited him from leaving Juneau. He applied the $1,000 bail White had posted in his city case to the new state case.

The man White is accused of assaulting was treated at Bartlett Regional Hospital and released. Fred Hiltner, a Harborview Elementary School teacher, said he sustained a dislocated shoulder and cuts to his face.

Hiltner said he had gone to Radio Shack to learn if an incident involving a child the previous day was racially motivated, adding that he has received diversity training.

In the earlier incident, a 12-year-old Native boy was asked to leave the store after picking up a metal detector that was on display, according to the boy.

Hiltner said he learned about the matter from the boy's father, another teacher, who said he received a trespass notice from Radio Shack when he asked about his son being told to leave the store.

The Nugget Mall Merchants Association last week issued an open letter to the community expressing regret over the incident.

Later in the week, Ted A. Tollefson of Loveless Tollefson Properties in Bellevue, Wash., owners of the mall, offered apologies to those "who may have been affected by this unfortunate event and to assure the Juneau public that we will continue to make every effort to provide shoppers with a comfortable and safe shopping experience."

Tollefson wrote that the incident at the independent business "is now up to the Juneau judicial system to pass any judgment since formal charges have been filed."

• Tony Carroll can be reached at tony.carroll@juneauempire.com.