Roseville Man Sucker Punched, No Charges Yet

ROSEVILLE, Mich. - A Roseville man says a sucker punch from a total stranger cost him his front teeth and now a mountain of dental bills. So far, the man who threw the punch hasn't been charged.

"I was in shock. I couldn't believe it for a few days afterwards. I wasn't looking for any trouble," said Wayne Steede. "I was just witnessing something going on in the neighborhood."

Steede lives on Larry Street in Roseville. On May fifth, he heard a commotion and a neighbor was explaining to Steede that his daughter had gotten into a fight with another youth. Then cars pulled up and more arguing and fighting ensured.

Steede, an innocent bystander, became a badly injured victim when a man snuck up on him.

"I never (saw) him coming. I was looking the other way, but from what someone told me, it was three leaping blows and right up into the mouth," Steede said.

Steede's top front teeth were knocked out, and he's going to loose the bottom front teeth.

"As of now, I'm probably $10,000 in. It's going to go on probably thirty, forty thousand by the time it's done," said Steede, who doesn't have dental insurance.

Steede says he was just standing in his front yard and was not involved in any way with the confrontation and had no conversation whatsoever with the man who punched him in the face.

"He didn't say anything to me. Like I said, I was standing on my lawn watching what was going on. I had one hand on my cell phone. I was preparing to call the police," Steede said.

Roseville Police prepared a warrant request for the man who threw the punch, but the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office rejected it.

Steede's lawyer says that shocked him.

"Not to mention his testimony plus his teeth being removed from his face and the blood and tens of thousands of dollars of damage. I think all that coupled together, it clearly would be sufficient to at least sign a warrant," said attorney Michael Daoudi.

A call to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office for comment on the case was not immediately returned.

The city attorney in Roseville is looking at a possible misdemeanor charge while Steede faces mounting medical and dental bills.

"I'm pretty disappointed in the response from the Macomb County prosecutor. However, I'm optimistic that the Roseville prosecutor will do a good job in serving justice," said Steede.