16 | JANUARY 9 • 2020
False
Report?
Temple Kol Ami
cantorial soloist
allegedly stages
stabbing to get out of
his contract.
W
hen police officers arrived at
Temple Kol Ami to investi-
gate a reported anti-Semitic
stabbing, it did not take long for them to
believe the story had been fabricated by
the supposed victim.
Sean Sammit, the synagogue’
s cantorial
soloist and music teacher, initially told
police he had been stabbed in the parking
lot on Dec. 15 by a man who expressed
anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant epithets.
However, detectives soon believed the evi-
dence did not support Sammit’
s story.
“Early in the investigation, it was
becoming increasingly clear there were
a number of inconsistencies that did not
add up. We believed he had made a false
report and that there was no threat to the
community,” said West Bloomfield Police
Chief Michael Patton.
According to the police report obtained
by the JN, Samitt did not call 911 after his
alleged attack. Instead, he drove himself to
the emergency department of Henry Ford
Hospital, where a security staff member
called police. There, he told detectives a
detailed story that included specifics about
the alleged perpetrator’
s appearance and
clothing and the blows they exchanged
during the alleged attack.
Meanwhile, officers on the scene said
they did not find any evidence of a stab-
bing in the synagogue parking lot. Once
inside, they said they discovered bloody
tissues in Samitt’
s office and in the men’
s
bathroom and a bloody knife in the kitch-
en area.
When police confronted Samitt about
the inconsistencies in his story, he claimed
he lost consciousness while washing
dishes at the synagogue and accidentally
stabbed himself, the report said. He told
police he made up the story about being
stabbed due to having been teased by
other employees about his medical
condition.
Officers later told Samitt they had
examined the health data on Samitt’
s
Apple watch and found he did not lose
consciousness. The report said officers
also informed him surveillance footage
from a nearby camera did not display any
signs of the attack he had described.
According to the police report, Samitt
then admitted he had decided to stage his
own stabbing because he wanted to get
out of his contract with Temple Kol Ami.
Once Samitt confirmed he had fabricated
the attack, West Bloomfield police report-
ed the incident to the Oakland County
continued on page 18
Jews in the D
Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield
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“Very early in the investigation,
it was becoming increasingly
clear there were a number of
inconsistencies that did not add
up. We believed he had made a
false report and that there was
no threat to the community.”
— CHIEF MICHAEL PATTON, WBPD