Armed man rams pickup truck into community center entrance on Detroit’s east side

DETROIT (FOX 2) – A Detroit man was arrested after purposely crashing his car into a community center and ramming some fences.

Surveillance video shows the attack by Benjamin Noah Weinstein, in which several lives were in danger at Detroit’s Eastside Community Network Center on Saturday.

“All we want to do is protect people and people were placed in harm’s way,” said CEO Donna Givens Davidson.

Davidson said residents and workers were inside when police say Weinstein, 42, drove around to the back parking lot and rammed the main doors that get you inside.

She says children also saw the whole traumatic thing go down.

“The initial reaction when people saw him, was this was race-related,” said Davidson. “And in a time where our nation feels very divided, when somebody does something like that, the fear is you hear that somebody is coming here to specifically attack us for this reason.”

Things turned physical after the crash.

“A staff person ran around on this side, and pulled him out,” she said. “He had a pellet gun. He was fighting to get his pellet gun and a bucket, the guy got the gun away from him, but there was also a semi-automatic gun in the bucket.”

Investigators say the suspect also wrecked a Detroit woman’s fence – her family sent us photos of the damage. Cops say another man’s fence was also a target.

“It seems like he was just on this path of destruction to destroy as many things as he could,” she said.

Weinstein was taken to the hospital for treatment. He’s charged with felonious assault, malicious destruction of property, one count of carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of felony firearm.

The suspect was arraigned on Aug. 21 in 36th District Court and given a $10,000 cash/surety bond with a GPS tether. A bond re-determination hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23, 2023, at 9 a.m.

“We need to rebuild,” she said. “We need to make sure that as we rebuild, we always keep safety in mind. What we don’t want, and that’s the reason you were able to drive in through these open gates, is we don’t want to turn into a fortress.

“It’s a safe space. It’s a welcoming space. It’s a place where people feel welcome.”