What We Know So Far About Trooper Struck in Road Rage: Update

Updated. ST. CLAIR SHORES, MI — The state trooper who was injured Friday morning when his motorcycle was struck after what police described as an incident of road rage has been identified as Ali Hammoud, a five-year veteran of the Michigan State Police and a member of its special enforcement patrol since summer.

Hammoud, 29, has been a member of the MSP's special enforcement patrol since early summer, and the accident on Interstate 94 near Vernier Road was the second time his motorcycle has been struck since he joined the unit, according to media reports.

Lt. Michael Shaw of the MSP told WWJ Radio the trooper's injuries are "pretty serious, so we're asking for some prayers for him."

Hammoud, a 29-year-old married father of two from Dearborn Heights, "has a lot of road-rash, a lot of scraping to his shoulder and back," Shaw said. "His helmet took a lot of the impact when he went down, so we’re a little worried about some head trauma, some concussion."

Hammoud was admitted to St. John's Hospital in Detroit in serious condition, but has been upgraded to fair condition and moved to a room. He suffered broken ribs, a broken clavicle and other injuries.

Hammoud's motorcycle was struck as he was en route to the funeral of slain Detroit Police Sgt. Ken Steil, who died of a blood clot days after he was shot by a fleeing suspect.

Shaw said the driver of a blue GMC pickup driven by a white male "became disgruntled, I guess, because he couldn’t drive as fast as he wanted to, veered around another vehicle and pulled in front of that vehicle and hit the brakes."

Another vehicle swerved to miss the pickup, striking the motorcycle. Hammoud tried to control his motorcycle for 100 to 150 yards, but lost control and put it down in the right lane, then crawled to the shoulder of the freeway, Shaw told the Detroit Free Press.

The pickup fled the scene. Police haven't located the driver, but Shaw urged him to turn himself in.

"We’d rather have him turn himself in and tell us exactly his side of the story. … We don’t have a plate but we do have cameras on the freeways and we’re working on doing something with those cameras to see if we can zoom in on that particular vehicle," Shaw told WWJ.

Shaw told the radio station that road rage is an increasing problem

"Unfortunately this is the thing that we see all the time. People just don’t have the patience to drive on the roads some times and make some very poor decisions," he said. "These vehicles are weapons. I mean, they’re 4,000 pound weapons that can just kill somebody at a spur of the moment if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing."

Hammoud's first close call on his department-issued motorcycle was on the Southfield Freeway a couple of months ago, Shaw told the Free Press. A driver was looking at a vehicle on the side of the road and struck Hammoud's motorcycle, knocking it down, but the trooper escaped injury.