Police investigate Grosse Pointe Park man's beating after crash as hate crime

GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. – Nathanial Szczerbinski is out of the hospital, but not out of the woods as far as his recovery goes. It may be a long road ahead physically and mentally.

He's mad and heartbroken over what happened to him Saturday afternoon in the city he loves, just six blocks from home in Grosse Pointe Park.

Szczerbinski accidentally drove the wrong way down a one-way street. He was T-boned by a man driving an older van. It was a devastating accident.


-- Szczerbinski's car

Szczerbinski got out of his vehicle to see if everyone was alright. The African American men in the van attacked him with slurs, spit, fists and kicks.

"The next thing I know he starts running his mouth and then he hits me. And then two other guys come out and they just start wailing on me, too. So I'm basically like in a corner. I tried to put my arms over my face so they don't, you know, kill me," he said.

Police are investigating the beating as a hate crime. What exactly did the men say to Szczerbinski?

"They called me a white b**** and then the driver was like, 'I don't care if I just got out of jail, I'm gonna keep hitting you, I don't care,'" said Szczerbinski.

Sore and sad, he doesn't want this to happen to anyone else and wans to ask the men who beat him why they did it.

"I just want to know why. I mean, it was a mistake. A simple mistake. I don't know if you guys hate me because I'm white. I really don't know. I just want to know why," he said. "I didn't deserve this."


About the Author:

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.