A Detroit woman and her attorneys are calling for additional criminal charges after a September traffic crash was followed by a confrontation in which men surrounded her vehicle and racial slurs were captured on video.
Susan Glass-Smith said the Sept. 12 incident began when another driver ran a red light near Paul Drive and the Southfield Freeway service drive in Detroit and struck her vehicle.
The other driver, an 18-year-old Detroit woman, has since been charged with two misdemeanors related to leaving the scene, while Glass-Smith’s attorneys argue that what happened afterward warrants a broader investigation into possible hate-crime charges.
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison has said the department is investigating the confrontation and will not tolerate threats, intimidation or harassment.
After The Crash
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The WXYZ report said Glass-Smith was driving near Southfield Service Road and Paul when the crash occurred.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said the 18-year-old driver was traveling west on Paul Drive at about 10:16 p.m. when she disregarded a traffic signal and struck Glass-Smith, who was traveling south on the service drive.
Glass-Smith said the scene changed almost immediately after the collision.
“My car was immediately surrounded,” she said during a Sept. 29 press conference. “It was surrounded by 20 or 30 men. They opened all of my car doors.”
A traffic crash report provided to another Detroit television station by Glass-Smith’s attorneys described an even larger crowd, stating that roughly 40 to 60 people ran toward the crash, opened the doors of her vehicle and took her purse.
Glass-Smith said people at the scene also helped the other driver leave before police arrived.
The Crowd Grows
Glass-Smith said a bystander eventually tried to intervene as the confrontation escalated.
She described a man swinging a baseball bat while members of the crowd yelled racial slurs and ordered her and the bystander to leave the area.
Video circulating online captured racial slurs being shouted near the crash scene.
Mohamad Sallam, who lives nearby, told WXYZ that his brother had died earlier that day and people were visiting his home to pay their respects. He said he did not know the people shown yelling the slurs and said those involved had been repeatedly told to leave.
“We are not okay with that,” Sallam said.
Glass-Smith also said she identified a bat and potential fingerprint evidence to responding police but was told officers could not collect them without a warrant. Those assertions were not documented in the crash report reviewed by Local 4, and the station said it sought confirmation from Detroit police.
Charges Filed
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office charged the 18-year-old driver with failure to stop at a personal-injury accident and failure to stop at a property-damage accident.
Detroit police arrested her Sept. 14, and she was arraigned Sept. 17 in 36th District Court before Magistrate Delphia Burton. She received a $10,000 personal bond.
Prosecutors have not publicly released her name while the broader investigation remains open.
The prosecutor’s office also reviewed a warrant request involving a 20-year-old Detroit man in connection with what happened after the crash. That request was denied because prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Glass-Smith’s attorneys, Johnny Hawkins and Vonda Evans, argue that investigators should continue identifying people involved in the confrontation rather than allow the case to end with the traffic-related charges against the driver.
Hawkins said they believe the racial language and threats support pursuing the incident as a hate crime.
Still Under Review
Nabih Ayad of the Arab American Civil Rights League told WXYZ that his organization contacted Glass-Smith to apologize for what she experienced while cautioning against treating the conduct of people at the scene as representative of the broader Arab American community.
“We shouldn’t allow a single incident to reflect or define a certain community,” Ayad said.
Bettison issued a similar statement, saying Detroit police would not tolerate conduct that makes residents feel unsafe while adding that the behavior shown during the confrontation did not represent the city’s Arab American community.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said any additional charging decisions will depend on what police submit after completing the investigation.