DETROIT – Two Detroit men face assault charges in connection to the beating of a driver after a crash Saturday afternoon near Vernor Highway and Chalmers Street on the city's east side.
Nathaniel Szczerbinski, 34, of Grosse Pointe Park, said he accidentally drove the wrong way down a one-way street and was T-boned by a van. When he got out of his vehicle to check on the other driver, he was attacked by the driver and two other passengers from the van, he said.
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The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has charged Demond Williams, the alleged driver of the van, and Toriano Williams, an alleged passenger, with assault with intent to do great bodily harm and aggravated assault. Detroit police arrested them after an investigation.
Demond Williams also has been charged with driving with an expired license. Both men were expected to be arraigned Thursday, but Detroit police released them. They are out looking to re-arrest them.
Police had been looking into whether this was a hate crime because Szczerbinski said the men yelled racial slurs at him. However, no one faces ethnic intimidation charges.
Szczerbinski was treated for injuries at a nearby hospital. Local 4 spoke with him on Wednesday.
"They called me a white b**** and then the driver was like, 'I don't care if I just got out of jail, I'm gonna keep hitting you, I don't care,'" he said.
He said he just wants to know why they beat him.
"I just want to know why. I mean, it was a mistake. A simple mistake. I don't know if you guys hate me because I'm white. I really don't know. I just want to know why," he said. "I didn't deserve this."
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