DETROIT – One man is facing several hate crime charges following the assault of a gay and lesbian couple in front of the MGM Casino in Detroit.
William Wilson, 26, of Texas, is now out on bond, but is due back in court on July 24.
“It was my 30th birthday party. We came down here to have fun, to have a good time, and it ended in shambles,” said Zach Chearhart.
A fun night on the town turns into a night of trauma after multiple members of the LGBTQ+ community say they were targeted in a hate crime right outside of the MGM Grand Casino.
“Yeah, we felt like we were targeted because we’re two gay couples, because they were holding hands as well as we were holding hands,” said Chearhart.
Chelsi Way, her wife Celia, along with Celia’s brother David and his fiancée Zach, parked at the MGM to go to a concert.
After returning to pick the car up from the valet around 1 a.m., they were approached by two men who were obviously intoxicated.
“The taller guy started saying, like, ‘You, he, she.’ Everything kind of escalated at that point when he started shouting slurs at me about my gender, and like, what I identify as is when it became like a really big problem,” said Way.
After asking the men to leave them alone, the men, now identified as Wilson, started to punch Way’s wife over and over again.
“He had struck her. She fell to the ground. She tried to get back up, and then that’s when he knocked her out, and she was unconscious for five minutes. After she was knocked out, he hit her three to four more times,” Way said.
She’s so shaken up that she didn’t even feel safe talking to Local 4 at MGM, where the incident occurred.
David and Zach tried helping, but ended up being assaulted themselves.
“I didn’t do enough. I took several hits. But that’s not enough. Look at her. It’s terrible,” David said.
Way ended up chasing Wilson down while calling 911.
As a result, Wilson was arrested and is now facing hate crime and aggravated assault charges.
Records show he’s now out on bond.
“I also don’t understand how he’s out on bond,” Way said.
Until he faces the full justice, these couples say nothing that quite feels right.
“We haven’t been out. Just knowing that he’s out, though, we might have to go somewhere from home, you know,” said Zach.
They also believe MGM security could have done more to de-escalate the situation.
“ I just want it out there that like nobody’s safe coming here, this is not a safe place. Even though they advertise that they have security, it’s not safe,” Way said.
Way did say the detective and prosecutor have been great in this process.