DETROIT (AP) — Several hundred people gathered at a
Detroit church Thursday to pray for racial peace and for the health of a
white motorist who was brutally beaten by a black mob after he stopped
to help a child he accidentally struck with his pickup truck
Relatives
of the motorist, Steve Utash, joined Mayor Mike Duggan and other city
leaders, clergy of various faiths, and complete strangers at Historic
Little Rock Baptist Church for what was billed as a night of healing.
Utash,
a tree trimmer from Macomb County’s Clinton Township, remains
hospitalized. He was listed earlier this week in critical condition and
in a medically induced coma. The boy he struck was treated for several
injuries, including to one of his legs.
Four men accused of taking
part in the April 2 attack face charges of intent to murder and
assault, and a 16-year-old boy has been charged as a juvenile with
assault and ethnic intimidation. He has a court hearing Saturday.
The
attack, in which police say at least six people jumped Utash when he
exited his truck on the city’s east side, has become a scar on the face
of the city, which is going through bankruptcy and struggling with high
crime rates.
Police said the mob might have killed Utash if not
for the actions of Deborah Hughes, a black nurse who saw the accident
from her window and rushed to help the boy before turning her attention
to shielding Utash from his attackers.
"I pray that your father gets up tomorrow," Hughes told the Utash family at Thursday’s event.

Both Hughes and the family received standing ovations.
"We
have to thank God that in the midst of evil we still have good
Samaritans," Greater Grace Temple Bishop Charles Ellis III told the
crowd. "We are here to celebrate good neighbors. They come in all age
groups … all ethnicities … all colors."
Beverly Pittman, 65, said the attack was "just terrible."
"We have to show the world we are concerned about any individual and color doesn’t matter," she
said.
Chuck
Gaidica, a former Detroit television personality and now pastor at a
church in the Detroit suburb of Troy, reminded whites and blacks at the
service of their relationship to one another.
"We are all part of
the fabric that makes up this great city and our proximity to one
another makes us all brothers and sisters," said Gaidica.
The investigation into the beating is ongoing.
Wayne
County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said her office "can prove beyond a
reasonable doubt the crimes of assault with intent to do great bodily
harm and ethnic intimidation" against the 16-year-old.
"In the
case of the four adult defendants that have been charged, the facts and
the evidence do not support a charge of ethnic intimidation," Worthy
said.
Latrez Cummings, 19, was charged Thursday with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to
do great bodily harm.
Bruce
Wimbush Jr., 17; Wonzey Saffold, 30; and James Davis, 24, were
arraigned this week on the same charges and were being held in the
county jail on $500,000 bonds pending preliminary examinations on April
21.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.