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Police: Race May Be a Factor in Detroit Mob Attack

CBN

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Detroit police say they believe race may have played a role in a recent mob attack in the city.

Steve Utash, 54, was attacked April 2 by a group of black men after he accidentally struck a 10-year-old who had walked in front of his pickup truck.

Utash reportedly got out of his vehicle to help the child when the men began beating him.

While he remains unconscious and in a critical condition, a 16-year-old boy has been charged as a juvenile with assault and ethnic intimidation.
    
Four other men have been charged with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.
    
Defense attorney Terry Johnson said if the feds determine that Utash had his civil rights violated, additional charges could also be filed.

"It leads me to believe that someone might have said something or did something of a racial nature," Johnson said. "In other words, you know, 'We're going to go get this white guy' or 'this white guy this' -- whether it was during the time of the beating, before the beating, or shortly thereafter."

Several hundred people gathered at a church in Detroit Thursday to pray for racial peace in the city and to pray for Utash's recovery.

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