His name was Emmett Till.
After Emmett s body was recovered days later in a river, his mother insisted on an open casket funeral with viewing of his mutilated remains. With that, she found public attention to the horrific, racially-motivated crime. Two white men were arrested on murder charges; then acquitted by an all-white jury. The suspects story, with an interview given after they could no longer face criminal implications, appeared in Look magazine in 1956.
In the meantime, knowledge of Emmett s fate became the spark for what led to the Civil Rights movement in the South.
Denn Pietro, 45, of Trenton, learned the story of Emmett and his mother, Mamie Till Bradley, when working on other projects.
A third man believed to have ties to the Feb. 1 shooting at Stewart and Telegraph Roads is now in custody, according to the Monroe County Sheriff s Office.
Sheriff Troy Goodnough reported that on Tuesday, the U.S. Marshal Service apprehended a 31-year-old Monroe man in Dayton, Ohio, in connection to the shooting. The man was lodged at the Montgomery County Jail in that city, pending extradition. His identity is being withheld pending formal arraignment. As with all criminal proceedings, defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty. Sheriff Goodnough thanks the public for their assistance in this investigation, the report said.
The victim was Lance H. Pittman Jr., 33, of Ypsilanti.
The accident happened on northbound US-23, south of Consear Road, which is Exit 3, in Whiteford Township.
According to reports, Pittman was driving a black Hyundai Tiburon northbound on the highway when, for unknown reasons, the Hyundai came to a stop on the shoulder of the freeway.
Then the Hyundai started to travel in reverse, southbound on the northbound shoulder, and entered the right lane of travel, reports said.
At that point, the car was struck by a gray 2010 Ford Expedition that Ervin Evans, age 52, of Adrian, was driving northbound in the right lane of US-23.
Ice covers most of Lake Erie, but it’s not safe
More than 80 percent of Lake Erie is covered in ice, but officials in both Michigan and Ohio are cautioning fishermen and others to stay off.
“Just because it’s covered in ice doesn’t make it safe,” said Wendy Stevens, chief of the Frenchtown Township Fire Department. “The ice is not safe. Stay off.”
While the formation and depth of Lake Erie ice depends on weather conditions, the days of ice breaking often result in anglers and others getting stranded on ice floes. Just this week in Erie Township, a man who was crossing the ice on foot had to be rescued. That s only one of the examples in recent days in Michigan and Ohio where the ice melt became dangerous to people venturing out on the open lake.