DETROIT — A Detroit teenager was charged Thursday with assault and a hate crime in the mob beating of a motorist who stopped to help a boy he accidentally struck with his pickup truck.
The 16-year-old boy is the only one of five people charged in the April 2 attack on Steve Utash to face an ethnic intimidation count. Utash, 54, is white. The teen and four adults charged in his beating are black.
‘‘In the case of the 16-year-old charged as a juvenile we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt the crimes of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and ethnic intimidation,’’ said Kym Worthy, Wayne County’s prosecutor. ‘‘In the case of the four adult defendants that have been charged the facts and the evidence does not support a charge of ethnic intimidation.’’
Utash, a tree trimmer from Macomb County’s Clinton Township, suffered severe head injuries when at least six people beat and kicked him when he stopped his truck to help David Harris, 10, on Detroit’s east side.
Deborah Hughes, a nurse who lives in the area, rushed to help the boy and stopped the mob from continuing to beat Utash, police said.
Utash remains hospitalized. He was listed earlier this week in critical condition and in a medically induced coma.
The boy was treated for a leg and other injuries.
The 16-year-old is in custody and faces a hearing Saturday. Latrez Cummings, 19, was charged Thursday with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. Two others were arraigned this week on the same charges and were being held on $500,000 bonds.