Family members don’t know if a loved one is dead or alive after he was impaled in a car crash where immigration agents were reportedly present.
Mohamd Salim Abdessamed, an immigrant from Mauritania in northwest Africa, was the man impaled on Thursday, June 4, when his sedan ended up on top of two other vehicles in a driveway on the west side of Detroit, said Dearborn resident Cheikh Saad Bouh Sidi Haiba.
The injured man is his brother-in-law, and family members can’t get answers from officials or hospitals regarding their loved one’s condition, Sidi Haiba said.
Speaking at about 1 p.m. Friday, while standing across the street from the hospital where he believes Abdessamed is, Sidi Haiba said he hadn’t slept. He arrived at the Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital about 4 a.m.
“It’s been terrible,” he said.
Corewell Health media representatives did not immediately respond to requests for information and comment on Friday afternoon.
No comment from ICE on reported presence in Detroit crash
The family was alerted to an immigration situation tied to Abdessamed by one of the man’s roommates, and another then confirmed that Abdessamed was wearing the clothing seen in widely shared videos of the aftermath of the crash, Sidi Haiba said.
Detroit fire personnel were called at about 10:18 a.m. Thursday to a vehicle crash in the 6700 block of Warwick Street. They found the driver impaled on a fence pole that went through his windshield. They cut the pole to take him, with part of the pole still lodged in his torso, to a hospital.
April King, 50, and her sons, including DJ Matkins, 28, live at the home where it happened.
Matkins and his brothers stated that immigration agents were in a car chase with the driver before his vehicle blasted through their fence, a doghouse, a wishing well and onto a classic Monte Carlo and GMC Yukon in their driveway.
The family provided photos of law enforcement agents wearing vests with the acronym ERO, which is used for the Enforcement and Removal Operations division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Matkins said the agents did not turn on their lights until after the crash.
The Midwest ICE office did not respond to requests for comment Thursday, but midday Friday acknowledged additional attempts to get information on the incident and the driver’s condition.
The driver was still breathing and conscious when first responders arrived at the scene, and he was listed as critical at the hospital on Thursday, according to the fire department.
On Friday, a fire department spokesperson directed the Free Press to the hospital for updates.
Alive or dead? Brother-in-law seeks answers after Detroit crash
Sidi Haiba said he called more than 20 hospitals trying to find his brother-in-law, eventually getting a tip that the young man was at the Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital.
There, Sidi Haiba said hospital personnel would not confirm Abdessamed was a patient but eventually acknowledged an immigration agent was present.
Sidi Haiba reached out to ICE, too.
“We don’t even know if he is alive or not,” Sidi Haiba said, before shaking his head and exclaiming with frustration: “He’s probably dead. He is. I don’t know.”
Abdessamed is 23, not 30 years old as officials reported, Sidi Haiba said. He’s been in the U.S. for two years and is seeking asylum.
Abdessamed’s sister – Sidi Haiba’s wife – was at home and not doing well with the circumstances, the brother-in-law said. The young man’s mom is also a continent away, not knowing if her child is alive.
“Families should have access,” the brother-in-law said.
Immigration and hospitals amid ICE arrests in Detroit
It’s the second time in recent weeks that ICE has been tied to reports of a car crash and injury in Detroit. It’s also the second time concerns have arisen with family not knowing their loved one’s whereabouts or condition.
A 46-year-old woman from Venezuela who is seeking asylum, Yerlys Moreno Lopez, needed emergency surgery on a broken knee following an immigration arrest on May 19 in the city, according to filings in federal court fighting her detention.
The filings state immigration agents drove Moreno Lopez off the road and into a fiery crash, before dragging her to the pavement. ICE, in an email to the Free Press, said she failed to yield to a lawful stop, fled at a high rate of speed, then collided with a parked vehicle before fleeing on foot and being stopped.
Protesters went to the Detroit Medical Center in the days that followed, calling the health system complicit in harm to the family of the mother and grandmother.
ICE and the hospital would not confirm or deny whether she was a patient, according to federal filings from Moreno Lopez’s attorneys.
Tammy Battaglia, communications manager for DMC, did not respond to multiple calls, emails and texts from the Free Press regarding the concerns and Moreno Lopez’s condition in the day following the crash. The hospital’s parent company also did not respond to requests for comment.
Battaglia did respond to a text message on Friday, June 5, to relay that her health system had no patient with Abdessamed’s name.
‘Not asking too much’ seeking man impaled in Detroit crash
Knowing the well-being of a loved one is something all families should have a right to, Sidi Haiba said.
“We are not asking too much,” the brother-in-law said. “If ICE is in control of a detainee, we are simply trying to get information on how that person is doing.”
Sidi Haiba said President Donald Trump’s stated focus on criminals with his deportation efforts is something “we all as Americans appreciate,” but does not align with what Sidi Haiba referred to as the targeting of immigrants from Mauritania.
The brother-in-law ended by telling a Free Press reporter: “It’s so unfortunate that I’m here talking to you (and) I don’t know if Mohamd is alive or not.”
His arms crossed, he turned back toward the hospital.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Family unsure if man is alive after Detroit crash; reported ICE presence
Reporting by Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
