DETROIT – An 18-year-old charged with being part of a group who beat a driver after he accidentally hit a 10-year-old boy in Detroit with his pickup truck has taken a plea deal in exchange for testifying at the trial for three other defendants.
During a hearing Monday, Bruce Wimbush Jr. acknowledged his role in the April 2 attack on Steve Utash.
"I was coming from school with my friends," Wimbush told the court. "We saw Mr. Utash hit the kid ... I striked him once. I hit him in the jaw."
Wimbush said he has a younger brother of his own and "got emotional" when he saw what happened.
"I let my anger get to me," he said.
As part of the deal, Wimbush will plead guilty to assault with intent to do great bodily harm and testify against the other defendants: Latrez Cummings, 19, James Davis, 24, and Wonzey Saffold, 30. Separately, a 16-year-old boy is charged in Juvenile Court with assault and ethnic intimidation in the case. Local 4 has learned that the 16-year-old is also working on a plea deal.
Wimbush will be released on a personal bond, but wear a tether and have a curfew, until his sentencing on July 7.
Saffold and Cummings are set to go to trial on Aug. 18. Davis is set to go to trial on Aug. 25.
Read: Man charged in Steve Utash beating speaks out
Police have said Utash, a 54-year-old tree trimmer from Clinton Township, was not at fault for the incident. The boy was not seriously hurt, but Utash spent days in a coma.
Nearly $200,000 in donations have been raise for Utash's medical bills.
Complete coverage: Driver beaten by mob in Detroit