{"id":110995,"date":"2021-03-31T13:26:25","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T13:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=110995"},"modified":"2021-03-31T13:26:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T13:26:25","slug":"michigan-man-pleads-guilty-to-smashing-teens-face-with-bike-lock-because-he-was-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-to-smashing-teens-face-with-bike-lock-because-he-was-black\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan man pleads guilty to smashing teen’s face with bike lock because he was Black"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Lee James Mouat Jr. (Photo: Handout)<\/span><\/p>\n

DETROIT \u2013 Nine months after a Black teenager had his teeth smashed out at a Michigan beach, the man who pummeled\u00a0his face with a bike chain admitted in federal court that his actions were about hate, attacking\u00a0the teen because of his race.<\/p>\n

Lee Mouat, 43, of Newport, Michigan, faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to willfully causing bodily\u00a0injury to an 18-year-old\u00a0because of the teen’s\u00a0race. He entered his plea before U.S. District Judge\u00a0Stephen J. Murphy, III.<\/p>\n

The incident happened at Sterling State Park in Monroe, where Mouat confronted a group of Black teenagers, including the victim, Devin Freelon Jr., 18.<\/p>\n

Court records show that before Mouat pulled out the bike chain, he told Freelon that\u00a0Blacks weren’t welcome at the beach and that Black lives don’t matter.<\/p>\n

The plea agreement, court records\u00a0and police statements show how the incident unfolded on June 6.<\/p>\n

It was about 7:45 p.m. when Freelon heard\u00a0an unfamiliar\u00a0man yelling a racial slur in the beach parking\u00a0lot.<\/p>\n

Freelon was retrieving\u00a0a portable speaker from a vehicle while\u00a0Mouat yelled\u00a0racial slurs at his two friends and then started walking toward Freelon, eventually pulling out a bike lock and striking him in the face with it.<\/p>\n

According to multiple witnesses, Mouat was upset about the teens playing music, and was making racial comments about the teens as he walked toward the park with his family.<\/p>\n

One witness said they heard Mouat say,\u00a0“I wish someone would say something to me so I can beat them.”<\/p>\n

More on hate crimes: <\/strong>Attorney General Merrick Garland urges hate crime enforcement strategy, calls for 30-day review<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Devin Freelon Jr. (Photo: handout)<\/span><\/p>\n

Several minutes later, a commotion broke out in the parking lot, where Mouat allegedly told the group “Black Lives Don’t Matter” before going to his van\u00a0and retrieving his bike lock.<\/p>\n

A witness said they were anticipating a fight, but at one point, Mout walked away,\u00a0 commenting: “I’ve got something for you in my car.”<\/p>\n

The witness assumed Mouat was leaving with his family. Instead, Mouat returned with the bike chain, swung it at the 18-year-old’s face knocking\u00a0him to the ground and swung at the witness but missed.<\/p>\n

In his\u00a0plea agreement,\u00a0Mouat admitted that he\u00a0repeatedly hurled\u00a0racial slurs at the group and said that Black people had no right to use the public beach. Then\u00a0he\u00a0struck the teen\u00a0in the face with a bike lock, knocking out several of his\u00a0teeth, cutting his face and mouth, and fracturing his jaw. He also admitted to trying to strike another Black teen with the bike lock, but missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHate-fueled incidents like this one have no place in a civilized society,\u201d Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General\u00a0for the Civil Rights Division Pamela Karlan said in a statement Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young victim in this case suffered tremendously from this vicious, racially motivated attack,”\u00a0said Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin for the Eastern District of Michigan.\u00a0 “Every individual citizen has the right to not live in fear of violence or attack based on the color of their skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit’s FBI chief Timothy Waters added: \u201cMouat\u2019s hateful and violent conduct, motivated by racial intolerance, was intended to physically harm the victim as well as create fear within the African-American community … We encourage anyone who has been the victim of or witness to such a crime to report it to the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mouat is to be sentenced on June 24. In addition to facing up to 10 years in prison, he also faces\u00a0a fine of up to $250,000.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lee James Mouat Jr. (Photo: Handout) DETROIT \u2013 Nine months after a Black teenager had his teeth smashed out at a Michigan beach, the man who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichigan man pleads guilty to smashing teen's face with bike lock because he was Black - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-to-smashing-teens-face-with-bike-lock-because-he-was-black\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michigan man pleads guilty to smashing teen's face with bike lock because he was Black - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lee James Mouat Jr. (Photo: Handout) DETROIT \u2013 Nine months after a Black teenager had his teeth smashed out at a Michigan beach, the man who [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-to-smashing-teens-face-with-bike-lock-because-he-was-black\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-31T13:26:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ldqgPICAEzXOIOQlNMyG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"785\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-to-smashing-teens-face-with-bike-lock-because-he-was-black\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-to-smashing-teens-face-with-bike-lock-because-he-was-black\/\",\"name\":\"Michigan man pleads guilty to smashing teen's face with bike lock because he was Black - 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