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DETROIT — Attorneys for a Detroit woman are pushing for hate crime charges after she says a mob of roughly two dozen men surrounded her car, hurled racial slurs and swung a baseball bat in the chaotic moments after a Sept. 12 crash near the Southfield Freeway. The case remains under review as of Friday, May 8, with the teen driver accused of running the red light facing two misdemeanors and the woman's legal team demanding more.
Susan Glass-Smith detailed the encounter at a Tuesday evening press conference, saying the group attack was worse than the crash itself.
"Someone ran the red light and hit me," Glass-Smith said.
Police say an 18-year-old Arab American woman was behind the wheel of the vehicle that struck Glass-Smith at Southfield Service Road and Paul Avenue. Glass-Smith says men at the scene initially helped the other driver, who then slipped away before officers arrived.
"It just disappeared, she disappeared, the car disappeared," Glass-Smith recalled.
Then the crowd turned.
Glass-Smith said 20 to 30 men surrounded her vehicle while she waited for police. Several opened her car doors. One man swung a bat at a passerby who had stopped to help and ordered him to leave.
"They had a bat, they were swinging this bat and they said get out of here," she said.
She also said the men directed a series of racial slurs at her, leaving her trapped and frightened inside her own car.
No physical injuries were reported. Attorney Johnny Hawkins, who represents Glass-Smith, said the conduct goes far beyond a traffic dispute.
A viral video and a neighbor's denial
Video from the aftermath has spread online, showing men gathered outside a house on the service drive shouting slurs. The homeowner, Mohamad Sallam, says the people in the footage are strangers to him.
Sallam said his brother had died earlier that day and that relatives and friends were at the home paying respects. He said he and his family repeatedly asked the group to leave.
"Being Muslim, it's against our religion to be racist against anybody," Sallam said. "We are not okay with that — we told them so many times to leave."
His account clouds a central question in the case: whether the men who surrounded Glass-Smith's car are the same men shown on the video, and whether anyone at the house had a role in what unfolded.
Charges so far
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office charged the teen driver with two misdemeanors related to the crash. It also requested a warrant for a 20-year-old Detroit man connected to the post-crash confrontation — a request a judge denied.
The denial is not necessarily the end. Prosecutors can seek a warrant again if new evidence emerges, such as additional video or witnesses who can identify participants.
Hawkins argues the current charges hold only the driver responsible.
"We would like for prosecuting attorney Mrs. Kym Worthy to use all of her resources to not just hold one person responsible," Hawkins said.
"We believe the elements and facts support bringing a hate crime towards these individuals," he added.
Ethnic intimidation law: a high bar
Michigan's ethnic intimidation statute, MCL 750.147b, makes it a felony to maliciously and intentionally intimidate or harass someone because of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin when the act involves a threat of physical violence, property damage, or injury. Penalties include up to two years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
The hurdle for prosecutors is proving intent. Offensive words alone — even slurs — don't meet the threshold unless they're tied to a deliberate effort to terrorize the victim based on a protected characteristic.
In a crowd, the challenge grows. Investigators must sort out who said what, who swung the bat, who opened the doors, and who simply stood nearby. That granular work may help explain why the warrant request stalled.
Legal observers note that judges tend to be cautious with bias charges in chaotic, multi-party encounters, where accounts conflict and intent is rarely admitted.
Community response
Nabih Ayad of the Arab American Civil Rights League said the group reached out to Glass-Smith to apologize for what she experienced and urged the public not to judge a whole community over one incident.
"If criminal activity occurred, the prosecution and the investigation will get to the bottom of it," Ayad said. "A single incident shouldn't be allowed to define a certain community."
His remarks highlight the sensitivity of the case in Detroit, home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country. Community leaders have walked a careful line — condemning the alleged harassment while cautioning against collective blame.
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison issued a statement: "The Detroit Police Department will not tolerate threats, intimidation, harassment, or any behavior that causes our residents to feel unsafe."
The department has not said whether a separate bias investigation is underway, but Bettison's response makes clear the case has the department's attention.
What's next
Hawkins said his team plans to submit additional evidence — including more video and witness statements — to the prosecutor's office in hopes of reopening the warrant decision and adding hate crime charges against multiple people.
Glass-Smith also urged anyone with cellphone footage from the scene to come forward.
"I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through," she said.
The roughly eight months between the September crash and this week's press conference underscores how slowly the case has moved. For now, the teen driver's misdemeanor case continues, and the 20-year-old's status remains unresolved.
Whether this becomes a hate crime prosecution may come down to whether investigators can connect the slurs and intimidation to a specific motive — and to specific faces.
The case has also reignited a familiar Detroit debate over how bias allegations are investigated and charged. Community groups and legal advocates say they're watching closely, and the pressure is on the prosecutor's office to strike the right balance.
This story was reported on-air and expanded with additional context from the Michigan Penal Code and court records. It was last updated May 8, 2026. Our editorial team reviews all reporting for fairness and accuracy.
