Man says he was beaten in racially charged attack; questions why suspects were not arrested

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) - When he was taken to the hospital 25-year-old Stephen Harris says he could barely speak. His mouth was swollen after a brick hit his face. That was nearly 10 months ago.

Now almost a year later Stephen is talking about what happened and hoping for justice.

His ordeal began at a friend’s house in West Bloomfield last April. He was talking to his buddy near the porch of the home when two men with a pit bull walking down the street starting yelling at him. They told Stephen to keep it down.

According to Stephen the guys crossed the street, yelling racial slurs and taunting him.

“From across the street, they were walking, two individuals and a dog. They said ‘you guys keep it down.’ As they were coming our direction they were using racial slurs,” Harris said.

Stephen says he tried to peacefully end the confrontation, but the men would not back off, and the situation turned violent.

“I did my best to get away but I couldn’t. There were two of them and they were using the dog to attack me. A third individual comes out, runs across a lawn and says ‘who attacks my brother?’ Right then his brother said ‘that N over there did it.’ He pointed directly at me. Now keep in mind I’m the only African American on the scene. As soon as that happened I was struck in the face with a brick," Harris said.

Someone finally called police. But when they arrived no one was arrested. And so far police have only booked one man, Savio Yaldo. The other two will appear in district court Thursday morning. Ten months later Yaldo and his accomplices face ethnic intimidation charges. Stephen and his attorney want to know why it took so long for action.

“My client from the beginning has wanted justice. It took nearly 10 months to actually get charges filed,” said Judith Gracey, Stephen Harris’ attorney.

Action News reached out to the West Bloomfield Police Department – they told us they had no comment on the case and that they did not want to try the case in the media.