4 in custody, Detroit beating probe widens into hate crime investigation.

[sarcasmo]

Source: Detroit News


Snip< Detroit — With four suspects now in custody, police and prosecutors are “widening the scope” of their investigation into last week’s beating of a 54-year-old white motorist to include the possibility that the mob assault was a hate crime, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Monday.

Snip< “We’re widening the scope of our investigation,” Craig said when asked if the beating constituted a hate crime. “Both our strategy and the prosecutor’s strategy is widening, and those factors are being looked into very closely. I can’t reveal some things about our investigation, but that is definitely something we’re considering.”





Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140407/METRO01/304070072/4-custody-Detroit-beating-probe-widens-into-hate-crime-investigation

[AverageJoe90]

1. Some nasty comments being posted over there.....nt

[alp227]

6. Need I say DU too?

Scary how established users sound like Cave trolls at times. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014773279

[valerief]

5. Welcome to DU. This is a liberal website for supporters of liberal causes. I guess that makes

you a lib, too!

[shaayecanaan]

3. Already seeing the "Where is Jesse? Where is Al?" responses...

as though every Black person in America has a moral responsibility to disavow themselves of an act like this.

Having said that, the circus atmosphere and media hoopla that surrounds virtually any instance of interracial crime has become ridiculously over-the-top.

[MO_Moderate]

22. Amen to that

The Zimmerman witch hunt was definitely a media fueled circus.

[shaayecanaan]

23. in that instance

There was a genuine cause for outrage in that the perpetrator was not charged in the first instance.

However, once he was charged I agree with you that everyone would have done well to shut up and try and allow the system a chance to work.

[philosslayer]

4. Based on the news accounts I've seen...

There is no evidence that this is a hate crime. This is just red meat for the race baiters.

[warrant46]

7. Its more than that

Some guy is in a coma because a gang of thugs meted out some street justice

[Crepuscular]

8. street justice?

There was no justice of any kind involved in this, only savage thuggery.

[warrant46]

9. You are preaching to the Choir

They (the thugs) see it as street justice.

I see it as blatant savagery by a bunch of Feral Animals.

[alp227]

12. Got to warn you not to use term like "feral animals"

given the attackers are black, and sites like Free Republic and Stormfront use such language a lot with stories like this.

[warrant46]

19. Didn't know you went to those places and studied their predilictions and dialect

I guess I'm not up on Free Reublic or Stormfront SPEAK like you are. ( I had to do some research to find out stormfront is a NAZI site)

These thugs are Criminals for sure--- who don't give a damn for human life or the Ten Commandments

I do however take offense that you are telling me in public how to act around here -- if you have a comment PM me

[whathehell]

27. +1

[840high]

13. +1

[AcertainLiz]

10. Street justice is no justice.

[Skip Intro]

11. +100. n/t

[shaayecanaan]

25. frankly I get tired of these attempts to divine the intentions of criminals

It reminds me of Camus' The Stranger: why did you kill the Arab? Because it was hot and I had a gun in my hand. In this instance, why did they put the boot into this white guy? Probably for a thousand reasons and none, yet we trawl through every word, action and tic looking for some evidence of racial animus that will allow us to assign their action to a special moral category.

[rollin74]

14. video interview of witness to the beating

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/justice/michigan-driver-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

this woman stepped in to stop the attack and may have prevented the victim from being killed at the scene

she describes what happened

[Manuel Beingman]

15. Everyone should click on your link and watch the video. (nt)

[Blue Diadem]

28. What a brave woman!

Thank you for posting this. This is the first I've heard about her.

[warrant46]

29. A Hundred people standing around while a dozen in the mob

Beat the man into a coma

According to the woman in the video

That's one place to stay very very far away from---

[rollin74]

30. yes and apparently she was the only one

who bothered to try to help the victim

[Yo_Mama]

31. The others may have been afraid. She is a very brave human being

A mob is a mob.

[rollin74]

32. true enough

I would just like to believe that more than 1 out of 100 would choose to at least try to help

absolutely no doubt about the woman's courage and compassion

[LovingA2andMI]

16. No National News for Eric Miles because...

Despite the FACT he was a victim of a violent crime, which took his life, it doesn't matter to the "baiting" Detroit News because Mr. Miles was African-American....

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/25186114/man-killed-after-beating-hit-by-car-outside-detroit-gas-station

At least My Fox 2 Detroit Local decided to cover this story .....

[Supersedeas]

34. thanks for the link

[ybbor]

17. As a Michigander

I have been following this story a little bit. I have been amazed that the local sports talk radio station, of all places, has been very level-headed in this whole scenario. As you may know, many sports talk stations lean right, but almost everyone on the station I listen to has said that they do not believe it is a hate crime. They have been pointing to the horrible situation that is happening in the city of Detroit and other urban areas in the country. They have been stating that the economic inequality in Detroit and the country as a whole is more to blame than any racial aspect. The idea that many of those involved have no hope in their lives, can not see their lives improving, have little respect for their own lives let alone another. They were not defending the attackers actions, nor am I. They were pointing to the greater social issues at play in the situation that these people have found themselves. What they did to this man is indefensible, but the fact that all of these people had nothing better going on in their lives than to hang around at a corner gas station was the bigger story. They also expressed almost as much sadness for the fate of those who participated in this heinous attack as for the victim, Steven Utash. I don't know, it was a pretty refreshing response from those who have a pretty large platform to speak from in the city, in a horrible situation all around. Just my opinion, anyway

[Hip_Flask]

20. Enter button...

Please use it to break up your walls of text.

[ybbor]

24. Good point

way to add to the conversation

[Hip_Flask]

26. Welcome to the internet...

Where everyone has about an 1/8th of a second attention span and if it isn't clear and presentable your point will get skipped right over.

[bitchkitty]

21. Hanging at the corner...

It's pretty common to see that in urban areas that have few parks or other places for the community to gather. People need somewhere to go other than their houses. In one neighborhood where I lived, folks used to gather around fires we'd start in big metal trashcans. If there had been a nearby park that wasn't overrun by junkies, we'd have hung out there!

I do agree with your point about it being a economic/social issue, not a racial one.

[jtuck004]

18. Good n/t

[madville]

33. Being attacked by a mob

is one situation where I would wish I had a weapon of some kind. When it's 3 or more against 1 you're pretty much at their mercy which is terrifying.