METRO DETROIT (WWJ) - Michigan State Police put out a warning for drivers to slow down and move over when coming up on the scene of a crash after three patrol cars were hit on Friday morning.
MSP said two of the crashes occurred within hours of each other while troopers were assisting other freeway crashes in Oakland and Wayne County.
In the first incident, MSP said state police was helping block the left lane for a disabled vehicle on eastbound I-96 in Novi just after midnight when a driver behind the wheel of a blue pickup truck lost control.
The truck drove up on the shoulder between the wall and the patrol car. While the driver avoided hitting the one vehicle, it collided into the trooper's cruiser.
The second crash happened a little more than two hours later, around 2:45 a.m. on westbound I-94 in Detroit. Metro South troopers were working the scene of another traffic crash when a black pickup truck failed to move over or slow down.
The truck driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the trooper's car.
In both cases, the pickup truck drivers took off. No troopers were injured in the crashes and state police did not pursue the suspects in either incident to continue protecting the other drivers who initially needed help.
MSP said they are looking for those suspects now.
MSP reported yet a third crash involving a state trooper just after 8:30 a.m. on westbound I-94 at Ecorse. A trooper was at the scene of yet another traffic crash when the driver of a Ford passenger car lost control and collided with the patrol car.
"The trooper who was in the car at the time of the crash and has minor neck pain and is being transported to a hospital as a precaution," MSP said in an update posted to social media around 10 a.m. "The at fault driver was not hurt."
An overnight ice storm is being blamed for slick roads across Metro Detroit on Friday. A wintry mix of freezing drizzle, sleet, and snow struck the area early Thursday evening before it transitioned to snow by 10 p.m.
Temperatures held out just below freezing before they plummeted into the 20s Friday morning, refreezing any wet spots from the night before.
"f you are one of those people that leaves for work at 8 when you start at 7:45 you better head to bed," MSP had warned on Twitter on Thursday evening. "You are going to need to leave at 6 due to the roads in the morning!"
