Milwaukee – Civic leaders were outraged and heartsick for their city last month when police reported that a motorist had been dragged from his car and beaten senseless by a gang of youths after he honked at them to move out of the street.
Mayor Tom Barrett and others pleaded with witnesses to come forward. A radio station sponsored a rally to draw attention to violence in Milwaukee, which has seen a string of mob beatings in recent years. The victim’s wife called on the community to stop the bloodshed and urged parents to teach their children right from wrong.
Days later, though, authorities reported that the motorist may not have been an innocent victim.
Court records quoted him as saying he was trying to buy crack and the beating was a drug deal gone bad.
Three teens have been charged as adults and four as juveniles in the Dec. 26 crime in Milwaukee’s inner city. Prosecutors said the seven were among 15 to 30 people who beat 50-year-old Samuel McClain nearly to death.
Police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz originally said the beating happened after McClain honked at a group of youths to move and they then pulled him from his car and punched, kicked and jumped on him.
She said that the initial story came from witnesses, but that as authorities investigated further, they found out that was incorrect.
In an interview at his home Friday, McClain denied he tried to buy drugs. He said he was on his way to a gas station and was jumped by a mob when he got out to talk to the driver of a car blocking the road.
