White man attacks black teen with bike chain in alleged hate crime, Michigan police say

A family in Michigan says a black teen lost several teeth after a white man attacked him with a bike chain in a racially motivated incident Saturday, according to police.

The 18-year-old black man — identified by his family as Devin Freelon — was swimming at a Sterling State Park beach Saturday evening when police say the group he was with and another group began exchanging words as they got out of the water, Monroe News reported.

Police said Lee James Mouat Jr., 42, who is white, went to his car and grabbed a bicycle chain with a lock on it, called Freelon a racial slur then hit him in the face with the lock, according to the Monroe News.

Investigators said Mouat may have been upset over music, according to WXYZ.

Family members said Freelon was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and suffered a busted lip, jaw injuries and three lost teeth, according to an account posted to GoFundMe by Freelon’s cousin Kiara Phillips.

Adrianna Howerton-Lee, also Freelon’s cousin, said the teen is set to graduate this week.

“He graduates in four days and he has to do it with missing teeth and a broken jaw,” she told WXYZ on Monday.

Mouat was arrested and charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and ethnic intimidation, according to court records. He’s scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

Michigan Legislature’s website refers to ethnic intimidation as a hate crime.

Monroe County Prosecutor Michael G. Roehrig told the Monroe News that ethnic intimidation charges were filed after officials determined the incident was racially motivated. He said the attack was isolated and appears to have happened randomly after the groups exchanged words, according to the newspaper.

A GoFundMe set up to help cover the cost of new teeth for Freelon has raised more than $15,000 as of the morning of June 9.

“This year has already taken a lot from him as a senior and as a African American, with the tension going on in America currently it’s a shame the hate in this world has taken another thing from him,” Freelon’s cousin Phillips wrote on the site.

The attack comes as demonstrators across the country have taken to the streets to protest racism, police brutality against black people and the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, a black man, died after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder. Three more officers were charged with aiding and abetting. All four officers have been fired.

This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 9:34 AM with the headline "White man attacks black teen with bike chain in alleged hate crime, Michigan police say."