Police investigating if anti-Muslim bias played role in Michigan attack

DEARBORN, Mich. – Police in a Detroit suburb say they are investigating an assault at a supermarket that involved an Arab-Muslim family.

Dearborn police said in a news release Friday that the probe into the Thursday assault seeks to determine whether it was criminal and motivated by bias. Chief Ron Haddad says investigators seek assistance from state and federal authorities.

Police provided no further details but a witness tells the Detroit Free Press that she saw two white men make insulting comments about Arabs and Islam to a man with his daughter, who was wearing a Muslim head scarf. Kathy McMillan Bazzi says she called 911 after she saw the Arab man get punched and a fight broke out in the store.

Dearborn has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim populations.