Driver who stopped to check on boy his truck hit is severely beaten by bystanders

[stromberg2]

Spot on, Gnome and Stylin!

[softailrider]

My grandparents lived down the street from where that happened, closer to Moross. Used to go to eat at Kavans down the street all the time. I still have an old receiver with the Almas service tag from across the street there, as well. It was a great neighborhood. They hadn't had a single robbery, or major crime to speak of, up until around 1992. Then, within two years, there were a dozen break-ins, one of their neighbors was assaulted, and, IIRC, one of their friends had their car stolen out of their own driveway. This was a neighborhood where you wouldn't necessarily think of locking your door if you were only stepping out for a few minutes. It deteriorated rapidly. They moved out two years later. I drove my grandma to visit friends who still lived a block away in 1998. They were planning on living out their lives in that home, until a kid on a bicycle held them up in their own driveway at knifepoint. Their children flew in the next week to help them move into a retirement home.

That area was still sort of half way decent until the mortgage crash of 2008. After that there was a drastic change.

[Meddle]

I'm getting a little tired of everything being treated as or investigated as a 'hate crime' too.

To me, that should be reserved for "I'm doing this to you because you are _____ ", not "I'm doing this to you because you did ______".

[Vic01]

Here's a conversation starter from the article...

"One radical alternative would be to publicly identify those areas in which the DPD struggles to provide either a visible deterrent presence or a timely response to distress calls, and to discourage commercial enterprises like stores and gas stations from locating there.
The argument against such transparency is that identifying such areas would tip criminals off to the places they’re least likely to be caught. But criminals already possess this knowledge — and so, I suspect, do the residents and businesses they prey on. The real consequence of such law enforcement red-lining would be to alert the hapless Steve Utashes of the world exactly when they’ve ventured beyond the borders of Detroit’s law-enforcement capacity".

"When urban planners talk about shrinking the city, they are really talking about adopting zoning and development policies that recognize the reality of two Detroits and make explicit the boundaries that divide them. Such policies would encourage residents and businesses to congregate in places where the city has sufficient resources to protect their health and safety, and to avoid the interstices where it can no longer offer that guarantee.

I recognize that publicly identifying the boundaries between the two Detroit's sounds callous and defeatist. But what’s really shocking is the reality such a map would illuminate.

If we want to live in a community where we can depend on the police, maybe the first thing we need to do is identify the places where most people cannot".




http://www.freep.com/article/2014040...s-Steven-Utash

[Zacha341]

^^^ Sometimes it's a blend of both.

[Dan Wesson]

The police have done that Face to Face to citizens who were unawares of the the locations and conditions they wandered into in all the city's of America.

If you have not experienced this then I don't know what to say.


By the way so have concerned civilians.

[RaumVogel]

Deborah Hughes ought to run for city counsel or something. What a true hero.

[Danny]

If Mr. Utash dies. Those thugs will get life in prison.

[Dave70]

That area was still sort of half way decent until the mortgage crash of 2008. After that there was a drastic change.

Sort of half-way decent, same as half-way bad imo, which isn't good. My poor sister lived around there and said it was really bad before 2008. But I'm sure it got even worse,

[Gannon]

Did anyone else notice that our hero was quoted by Channel 7 as having her pistol on her when she finally chased away the mob from Mr. Utash?

This could've gone way far the other way.

I was reminded this morning of a mob attack I suffered in the Aviation Subdivision...one block north of lily-white Dearborn...in the late-60s or early-70s. An old friend posted a picture on Facebook of her late father on his birthday, triggering what became a Niagara Falls of old and painful memories.

I was driven to post my story...remembering that, along with the other larger memories of being chased around the Wheeler Recreation Center in the Brewsters not long afterward. Rather than attempt to paraphrase it, I am copying it slightly modified here:

Sometime in the late-60s or early-70s, I was riding my bike alone on Belton, a block north of Tireman, between Sorrento and Cheyenne. Got some gum stuck in my shoe, so I stopped and was bent over awkwardly on the bike trying to scrape it off...when roughly thirty young thugs rode up and attacked me, with the goal of stealing my bike. But they had no restrictions about causing me great harm. I vaguely remember throwing my bike at them, in the midst of dozens of swinging fists and kicking legs...but much is lost in those painful memories over the years.

What I remember most is Mr. and Mrs. Venegas, in the driveway of their home just off the corner...emptying groceries from their trunk. When they saw my plight, he jumped into his car...trunk open, while his wife began screaming at the mob...backed up over the last bag and drove straight into them...chasing 'em all away. I don't remember if I lost my bike or not. I survived in ways well beyond the physical. I was in shock that I feel through the tears driven by these memories even today.

Around the same time, I often hung at the Wheeler Recreation Center at the Brewster Projects with Tammy Wilson...whose father ran the center for many years...and my across-the-street neighbor Chris Hawkins, whose father was best friends with Mr. Wilson. Occasionally teased and chased and otherwise harassed due to my pasty, uninteresting complexion. I didn't look like most of the folks there.

Somehow...mostly due my amazing parents, especially my very loving and progressive mother...I grew up without a racist bone in my body. Heck, I can remember the very first black person I ever saw...walking along Appoline towards Joy Road, across from the silver bank. "Mommy, did God burn him when he made him?" "No honey, God made him just like he wanted, perfectly dark and handsome."

I'm howling now...good gosh, these memories are from over forty years ago...I couldn't have been 10 years old yet...but these tears are not just from not having my mother around to confirm 'em...they flow due the resurrection of this ugly racist mob spirit which has returned to this town today.

I pray from the depths of my soul that Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness increase, and flow forcefully to chase this evil destructiveness away once again. Because for decades we did not suffer the same...it is possible to encounter the ugliness of other's racism or predatory natures and NOT respond in kind. I am proof that there is a better way, and it directly involves the Spirit of God. We all need to find that Source of Love, and get as much as we can handle...so it simply spills out over all those who we encounter. Every day. Every moment.

Since reliving those memories and writing that piece I have been physically wasted...nearly unable to stand up from this couch. I share my story as a plea for any who will hear. We can change this present reality, but the core of the problem is SPIRITUAL, the physical is merely a symptom.

Sincerely,
John

[oladub]

These thugs not only injured Mr. Utash, they injured the reputation of Detroit in the national press, and offset the good work of everyone from Deborah Hughes to Mike Ilitch who have been risking so much trying to get Detroit turned around.

Reading all this, I am torn between the recognition of brave angels like Deborah Hughes and Mr. and Mrs. Venegas and the need to deal with gangs of thugs. Deborah Hughes and Mr. Venegas both had a touch of vigilante incorporated into their acts of salvation for what that's worth. On the other end, the thug end, of the spectrum maybe some collective punishment could be doled out. If Mr. Utash dies, I would, like Danny be satisfied with 100 years, a traditional equivalency of life but spread out among the two or ten or however many participants are caught. It would be unfair and unjust to put them all away for 100 years. If only two were convicted, they or their families would be more motivated to turn in the rest to reduce their own fifty year sentences to ten years.

Since these are minors, their parents are liable for their actions and having them serve part of their thug child's time could be an option... and yes that would include any absentee fathers especially if they haven't provided child support. By holding parents partially accountable, a message would be sent to all parents including irresponsible fathers who might think twice about making more babies without providing for, mentoring, and controlling them. I am trying to think outside the box because until good people of action like Deborah Hughes and Mr. Venegas take control of the community as Raum Vogel suggested, new options should be considered.

[Gannon]

Bravo, Oladub. Wow.

Thanks, you've dropped some really good ideas here...I had to hide and pray for a while, since this has SO torqued my spirit.

I have been shaking all morning as the enormity of it sunk onto my shoulders...a good soak/meditation turned that around, and now your words help launch me back to positivity.

Cheers, truly.

[sumas]

Morang and Balfour was my old stomping ground [[Grayton and Nottingham). It used to be one of the safest places in Detroit

Ah we owned a home on Lansdown between Morang and Whittier. Sweet home! Crime, really evil crime drove us out. Funny, we are still Detroit residents and many charming folks from our old hood now live here. I assure you we have zero tolerance for bullshit.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

I shared a small bungalow with my gal in a house on McKinley and Yorkshire for most of '90-91, we used to walk up to Denby H.S. and back all the time, also loved the burgers at Kavan's, it was a great neighborhood, but it seems the cancer that had affected most of Detroit's unique pockets and communities has scarred this area as well. When you have a somewhat elderly [[ALBEIT VERY BRAVE) retired woman state that she never leaves home without her .38 because in her words "this neighborhood is terrible" society has broken down. All thats left is to avoid it at costs. For Mr Utash, he is scarred for life, he will live with physical and mental pain for many years if not for the rest of his life, all because of some "perceived injustice" by a bunch of thug hood rats who have nothing to contribute to society or than the consumption of 40's and blunts. I hope the cops put the screws to the punks they have in custody and have them dime each other out, they all have 3 hots and a cot waiting for them in the Prison system, especially the young and three time deemed "incorrigible" Mr Wimbush Jr, who started his criminal career at the ripe old age of 10...Mr Wimbush Sr must be so proud of his son.

[Dan Wesson]

I see there is at least some consideration amongst the powers that be that a hate crime may have been committed.

I vote Yes.

To rule it out because it just ain't possible is total hogwash.

[Dan Wesson]

#5

Wow take a look at how far news is traveling across the globe

https://www.google.com/#q=5th+arrest+detroit+beating

[Papasito]

If a an African American driver was traveling through a white neighborhood, and a little white kid darted in front of the driver's car, and accidentally struck the child, would it be justified for a mob of whites to beat up the driver?

A suburban Detroit man was in critical condition Thursday with severe head injuries after a neighborhood mob beat and kicked him when he stopped to check on a 10-year-old boy who stepped from a curb into the path of his pickup.

The 54-year-old man, whose name was not released, was being treated at a Detroit hospital as police scoured the east side neighborhood where he was attacked Wednesday afternoon. The boy, David Harris, was expected to recover from his injuries, according to Desmond Key, who said he was the 10-year-old's uncle.

The driver — who lives just north of Detroit in Macomb County's Roseville — wasn't at fault in the accident, said Detroit police Sgt. Michael Woody.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/d...troit/25307378



Apparently if it's the other way around, it's a reason to beat up the driver.

Accidents happen.
Hate works both ways.
Tolerance and compassion can work both ways.
I'd like to see it start happening.

[MizMotown]

Is it ever justified in any situation?

[Spartan]

Interesting turn
http://www.freep.com/article/2014041...e-crime-charge

[Zacha341]

Prayer event planned for Steven Utash in Detroit [[TODAY)

5th suspect arrested

http://www.freep.com/article/2014040...it-Steve-Utash

[Papasito]

Nope. I'm just trying to figure out why a group of people would react in such a manner.

Of course "there's nothing to see here" ... but if the races were reversed Reverend Al and Reverend Jessie would already be getting off the plane and whipping up the media and the African American community into a frenzy.

Anyway, Law Enforcement seems to be doing it's job.

Detroit police say a fifth person is now under arrest in connection with the beating of Steven Utash.

Utash was critically injured by a mob after he stopped to help a 10-year-old boy whom he accidentally hit with his truck last Wednesday.

Sources tell FOX 2's Roop Raj the latest arrest is a 19-year-old who was 'a leader' in Utash's beating.

.......

Three people have been charged in connection with the beating. Seventeen-year-old Bruce Wimbush Jr., 30-year-old Wonzey Saffold and 24-year-old James Davis are charged with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.

A fourth person remains in custody at the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Center. Prosecutors are determining whether the 16-year-old will be charged as an adult. He is due in court Saturday, April 12.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/25...it-mob-beating




Racism comes in all colors. It's time to stop the hate from ALL sides.
And it's time to stop closing our eyes to racism when it's not the raw meat the media wants to eat up for ratings.
And when it's not the kind that the race baiters chase to make money and fame off of at the expense of other people's misfortune or bad behavior . . .

[rb336]

What is your point? that this isn't getting coverage?

cooler minds need to prevail and we need real justice, real equality of opportunity

[Lowell]

What If It Was Reversed?

You mean like the guy who blew away the unarmed teenage girl on his porch?

Oh wait, that's different. No bystanding heroic nurse stepped in and saved her life before she died.

[Danny]

Next time when there's a hate crime involving a black folks beating up white folks. Someone will be shouting " Steve Utash, Steve Utash, Steve Utash!!"

[That Great Guy]

God loves all people, but hates Sin