Steve Utash: Detroit Mob Attack Victim Still Clinging To Life, Medical Bills Mount

Steve Utash was nearly killed in a Detroit mob attack last week, but family members say the 54-year-old is not out of the woods just yet.

Utash was beaten by a mob of men outside a gas station on April 2. Utash had struck a 10-year-old boy with his truck after the boy stepped in front of the vehicle, and when Utash got out to help the boy, a mob descended on him.

Steve Utash has been in a medically induced coma since the Detroit mob attack, and doctors say he is still in critical condition with a long recovery ahead of him.

“The swelling of his eyes (is) going down,” said the victim’s son, 24-year-old Joe Utash, but “there are lumps all over his head, everywhere you look.”

An online fundraiser has pulled together more than $145,000 for Steve Utash, but family members say medical bills are reaching $20,000 per day. Utash does not have health insurance.

Detroit leaders have decried the attack. Rev. Jim Holley and other area religious leaders have called on the community to turn in those involved, and police have already arrested five suspects. Leaders have also called on Detroit residents to rise up against the violence that has plagued the community.

“We need to send a crystal clear statement to the world that the violent actions of a few individuals will not cast a cloud of negativity over our city,” Holley said in a news release Wednesday announcing a prayer vigil. “We are inviting everyone to participate to show support that this is a region of hope, peace and renewal.”

While Steve Utash begins what looks to be a long recovery, the Detroit community also recognized the heroic nurse who may have saved his lie. Deborah Hughes said she saw the Detroit mob attack taking place and decided to step in.

“I go over there and I say, ‘Don’t nobody else hit him. Don’t put your hands on him. Leave him alone!’ And everybody backed up and let me go to work on your dad,” she said.

As Hughes cared for the man in the aftermath of the Detroit mob attack, she said Steve Utash awoke briefly and had only one concern: “He said, ‘Is the boy dead?’ That’s all I heard him say and I said, ‘No baby. He’s gonna be fine,'” she said.

[Image Via Utash Family]