WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - Police are crediting technology for helping them solve the case about a man who said he was stabbed in an anti-Semitic attack December 15.
Sean Sammit said he was attacked as he left a synagogue that day in the Jewish community in West Bloomfield. But police say he made up the whole story - and that they found out thanks to the information on his Apple watch.
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Man fakes anti-Semitic stabbing attack
Police are crediting their investment in technology as one way that helped them crack the case
Sammitt is a former employee at Temple Kol Ami on Walnut Lake Road. West Bloomfield police say Sammitt claimed a man shouted anti-Semitic comments then stabbed him as he left work. Sammitt told police he fought the attacker off and drove himself to Henry Ford hospital.
But police say his story didn’t add up, and a thorough search of the parking lot found no evidence. That’s when they analyzed Samitt's Apple watch and looked at his heart rate when Samitt claimed the attack happened.
Investigators say it was normal and should have been higher. But the watch showed before the attack that Samitt's heart rate was elevated.
That led police into the synagogue, where they say they found bloody tissues and a knife Samitt used to stab himself.
Sean Samitt
"We all have to think about the actions that we do and so these little imprints whether on his phone, his watch, or a camera, it just really shows every action we do isn't going to go unnoticed," said Rabbi Asher Lopatin.
Sammit is now charged with filing a false police report. Why he allegedly made up the attack is still unknown.
"Society has to come together and we have to let people know that we don't tolerate this," said Lopatin. "We don't tolerate exploiting the police, we don't tolerate exploiting anti-Semitism, and we don't tolerate anti-Semitism and hate."
Police say Samitt's stab wound did not need stitches.