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 

