Detroit police tell WXYZ they have arrested a suspect in the carjacking and beating a 91-year-old World War II veteran outside a store on Detroit’s west side. The news comes just hours after WXYZ aired shocking video of the attack.
ON CAM:
This story will make you mad and want to cry. We just hope someone out there can give this elderly victim some justice
REPORT:
This video may be hard to watch, but it’s even harder to believe that someone could beat a 91-year-old man, punching this World War II veteran 21 times.
(Mr. Sims) “He come up, he want a light for a cigarette. Just as I … he threw a punch at me.”
Days after the assault, 91-year-old Mr. Sims says the swelling has gone down quite a bit but the black and blue marks are clearly visible. Now he and his family hope Detroit police can catch the man who beat him.
It was last Friday at about 8:30 in the evening outside this west side party store.
The young stranger approached Mr. Sims, asked for a light and then began to beat him over and over again – and Mr. Sims couldn’t go anywhere. He was pinned in between his car door and another car.
(Mr. Sims) “I think we kinda’ wrestled around there. He punched again and again.”
What the man wanted from 91-year-old Sims was his car, a 2005 Chevy Malibu.
(Mr. Sims) “He grabbed my keys out of my hand and hopped in the car.”
A woman who appears to have been with the carjacker tries to get in the car and while a small crowd of people just stand by. The carjacker calmly drives away, leaving Mr. Sims beaten, battered and helpless.
(Mr. Sims) “They give me some painkiller, pills and I’ve been taking them.”
Sources say these are the two people Detroit police want to question. They were caught on store surveillance video minutes before the attack.
Witnesses say the male suspect stands about 5’ 9” tall with a slim build. He had braids in his hair and an earring in his left ear. He wore expensive Cartier glasses that we’re told were recovered by police.
(Mr. Sims) “Somewhere I grabbed him because I knocked his glasses off.”
Now the Sims family is hoping someone can help Detroit police find his attacker.
(Mr. Sims) “I think they should be put in jail and kept there for a number of years.”
ON CAM:
And the suspect could still be driving Mr. Sims 2005 Chevy Malibu. It’s a silver-gray four-door with a handicapped license plate and an Air Force sticker in the front window. Call Detroit police if you have any information.
