Mike Mohamad Agemy was trying to “stop the hate.”
That’s what he told police June 17 after he was arrested for trying to run over a group of Christian fundamentalists who were denouncing Islam in front of the largest mosque in the country, Dearborn’s Islamic Center of America.
A police report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act provides details about the incident that has touched off a firestorm of commentary on right-wing blogs and fanned the notion held by some that Dearborn’s Muslim community is hostile to Christians.
The group Agemy is accused of assaulting is called the “Bible Believers.” Based out of California, they had already been in the news that weekend for their anti-Islam demonstration at the Arab International Festival in East Dearborn. That display, which included a pig’s head on a pike and signs about Islam that many found offensive, led some festival-goers to pelt them with eggs, plastic bottles and reportedly rocks.
According to police as well as a statement Agemy provided detectives, two days after the festival confrontation, Agemy was driving east down Ford Road when he saw the demonstrators standing on a grassy median in front of the Islamic Center. Curious, he merged his white Ford Explorer into the turnaround lane and headed toward the mosque to check it out.
When he saw the signs the demonstrators were carrying — one apparently called Prophet Muhammad a child molester — Agemy, a Dearborn resident, was incensed.
Police who were monitoring the demonstration said Agemy pulled up in the circle drive in front of the Islamic Center and talked briefly with an Arab man; Agemy would later tell detectives the conversation consisted of the man saying he wanted the protesters to stop.
As Agemy ended the dialogue, he turned his SUV toward the demonstrators, popped a curb and headed for them. All seven of them were able to evade the oncoming vehicle, with none coming closer to it than 5 or 7 feet, police said.
After he made a pass, Agemy pulled in front of one of the police cruisers and an officer ordered him to stop at gunpoint. He was arrested without incident.
In an interview with detectives immediately after his arrest, Agemy said he was disgusted by the protesters, but sorry for what he did. He apologized repeatedly and said he hoped prosecutors would take it easy on him. He was arraigned in 19th District Court two days later on seven counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of reckless driving. Bond was set at $20,000 or 10 percent and a preliminary examination of the evidence against him was scheduled for Aug. 3.
Agemy, 47, has been in trouble with the law before. From 2005 to 2007 he served two years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. During his incarceration he received mental health and drug treatment, court records show.