This is an update I found from May 18 on the condition of the beaten truck driver who accidentally hit a child and stopped to see how the boy was. (As he should have.)
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| Beaten father & grandfather Steve Utash |
By Kevin Conlon, CNN
updated 2:00 PM EDT, Sun May 18, 2014
(CNN) -- A 54-year-old Michigan tree trimmer --
beaten nearly to death after going to the aid of a child he accidentally
struck with his vehicle -- is home after spending more than six weeks
in a hospital and rehabilitation center.
The "Help Steven Utash"
Facebook page posted the news Saturday night. Cheryl Angelelli, a
spokeswoman for DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, confirmed
Utash was discharged on Thursday.
Steven Utash was set upon
by about a dozen people April 4 after his truck struck a 10-year-old
boy, police said. After Utash stopped his vehicle to help the boy, he
was "severely beaten" with "fists and feet," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym
Worthy said in a statement.
Jennifer Moreno, a police
spokeswoman, told CNN that all of the alleged assailants were
African-American and that none are known to be related to the boy or his
family. She said the beating was "a spontaneous response."
The prosecutor's office
said the boy who was struck by Utash's truck was taken to a local
hospital, where he was treated for a leg injury and released.
Five suspects ranging in age from 16 to 30 have been charged so far for their roles in the attack.
The four adult suspects
are charged with attempted murder while the fifth, a juvenile, is
charged with assault and ethnic intimidation.
Michigan's penal code
says a person is guilty of ethnic intimidation "if that person
maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another
person because of that person's race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, causes
physical contact with another person (or) damages, destroys, or defaces
any real or personal property of another person." It can carry a prison
sentence of up to two years.
Worthy spokeswoman Maria
Miller said the adults are scheduled to go to trial in August and the
juvenile in June. She said that there was not sufficient evidence to
charge the other suspects with ethnic intimidation, but that the case
remains open and the investigation ongoing.
A Change.org petition
demanding that Moreno charge Utash's assailants with a hate crime had
124 signatures Sunday morning. Daughter Felicia Utash told CNN affiliate
WXYZ that she doesn't want to believe the assault on her father was a
hate crime, but she is pleased that suspects have been apprehended.
Utash's other daughter,
Mandi Marie Utash, set up a GoFundMe.com page for her father -- who she
says does not have health insurance -- with the goal of raising $50,000.
By Sunday morning, more than 4500 donors had contributed $186,298.
