DETROIT (AP) — Two Detroit teenagers were arrested
Saturday in an attack on a suburban man who was brutally beaten by a mob
after accidentally striking a boy with his pickup truck.
Investigators
believe the 17-year-old and 16-year-old males had a direct role in the
beating of Steve Utash, said Sgt. Mike Woody, a Detroit police
spokesman.
Utash remained in critical condition Saturday, three days after the attack on the city’s east side.
Woody
said no charges would be immediately filed against the teens while
investigators continue their work. Police believe at least six people
may have been involved.
"We still have a long way to go. I’ve been
reminding people we’re still at the very beginning stage of this
investigation," the sergeant said.
The case has outraged the public, clergy and elected officials. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called the
attack "senseless."
Utash,
54, of Clinton Township accidentally struck a 10-year-old boy with his
pickup Wednesday. A mob swarmed him as he checked the boy, whose
injuries were not life-threatening.
A prominent black pastor, the
Rev. Horace Sheffield III, called on the public to go block by block to
find the "heartless perpetrators."
It’s important for community
members "to prove that we equally deplore justice and unbridled
brutality no matter what color the victim is or of the one committing
it," Sheffield said in a statement.
Utash is white; Detroit is more than 80 percent black.
Utash’s family said more than $50,000 has been raised for his medical bills. The tree trimmer has no
medical insurance.
"I
never expected this. … The whole nation is rooting for him to wake up
and be OK," his daughter, Mandi Emerick, told The Detroit News.
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