Detroit Truck Driver Out Of Hospital Six Weeks After Mob Beating

[May 19, 2014]  (Reuters) - A driver beaten unconscious by a mob as he tried to help a child he struck accidentally with his truck in Detroit six weeks ago has been released from a hospital, a spokeswoman for the facility said on Saturday.

Steve Utash, 54, who was on a ventilator for about a week after the attack, left Detroit Medical Center's Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan on Thursday, said Cheryl Angelelli, a hospital representative.

Four men are facing attempted murder and assault charges in connection with the attack and a 16-year-old boy faces charges of assault and ethnic intimidation of Utash, who is white. All five defendants are black.

Police say they were part of a group of bystanders who advanced on Utash on April 2 after he left his truck to check on a 10-year-old boy he accidentally hit with his vehicle.

The child, David Harris, was treated for a leg injury and released from hospital a day after the collision.

A campaign on a fundraising website to pay for the Utash's medical bills has raised more than $180,000.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York, Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Gunna Dickson)

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