Crime & Safety

'Not One of Them Cared': Utash Brother at Sentencing in Mob Attack

Family members lashed out at two of the defendants in the vicious attack on Steven Utash, and the sentencing judge said the "far-reaching implications" of the violence make people afraid to stop and render aid.

The brother of Steven Utash, who is still recovering from injuries received in a  vicious April 2 beating that nearly killed him lashed out at two defendants during their sentencing and said they should thank Deborah Hughes, the nurse who intervened and stopped the mob attack.

“Otherwise, you guys might be standing here for murder,” Ken Utash said at the sentencing hearing for Wonzy Saffold, 30, and Bruce Wimbush, 18, The Detroit News reports.

Wayne County Circuit Judge James Callahan sent Saffold to prison for six to 10 years, and sentenced Wimbush to three years’probation. If Wimbush has no further brushes with the law, his record will eventually be wiped clean.

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The two pled guilty to assault with intent to do great bodily harm, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

In handing down the sentences, Callahan said the attack had “far-reaching implications,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

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“People are afraid to stop their automobiles when they’re involved in collisions ... to see if someone’s been injured,” he said.

One by one, other members of Steven Utash’s family stepped forward to urge Callahan to hand down maximum sentences.

Ken Utash described his brother as “155 pounds soaking wet” and said he began “praying for his life” as he was surrounded by about 30 people on Detroit’s west side when he stopped to give aid to a boy he had accidentally struck with his pickup truck.

“People came out of everywhere to kick him and punch him,” Ken Utash said. “One person said they pulled up in a car, got out and kicked him in the head. What is this, a new version of the knockout game?

He was begging, he was pleading, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ ” Utash’s brother continued. “Not one of them cared about his plea.”

Utash didn’t attend the sentencing, but his daughter, Mandi Marie Emerick, read a letter from her father, WDIV, Channel 4, reports. “It’s been real scary for me,” wrote Utash, 54, who reportedly has moved from Clinton Township to Oakland County to live with his girlfriend. “All I can say is the people who beat me tried to kill me.”

Utash was in a medically induced coma for 10 days. When he finally awoke, his head was the size of a mushroom, he wrote in the letter read by his daughter.

“I don’t understand what kind of defense they can use to explain their animal-like behavior,” he wrote.

Mary Utash, Steven Utash’s sister-in-law, pointed to Saffold and said he had ‘no consideration for human life.”

“You disgust me and you’re a disgrace to America,” she said.

All five of the defendants in the Utash attack have accepted plea deals. In exchange to pleading guilty to assault with intent to commit great bodily harm, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office dropped attempted murder charges.

Latrez Cummings and James Davis will be sentenced Thursday. A 17-year-old juvenile, who authorities at one time said  was the instigator in the attack also pled guilty Charges of ethnic intimidation were dropped in exchange for testimony against the others.


Family members told reporters that Steven Utash has brain damage, is unable to drive and cannot make financial decisions for himself. Though he has been able to pay his medical expenses, he is unable to work and has no money for everyday living epenses.

An online fundraiser on the GoFundMe site raised $188,250 from 4,605 donors.


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