State police: Road rage stabbing caused I-96 closure, suspect fled scene

article

Photo by FOX 2 Photog Coulter Mitchell.

FOX 2 (WJBK) - A rush hour freeway closure on I-96 at Southfield was due to a road rage stabbing investigation, Michigan State Police said.

State police said the attack happened shortly before 3 p.m. on the express lanes of westbound I-96 under the M-39 overpass. The road rage was sparked by an incident prior to getting on the freeway.

Once on I-96, the suspect's car rear-ended the victim's vehicle. She then pulled over when the suspect pulled in front of her, an argument ensued outside the vehicles - then got physical.

At that point the suspect stabbed her and sped off in a Nissan or Toyota sedan, possibly light blue or green, driven by a Black woman.

The Detroit Regional Communication Center received calls of an assault in progress. While troopers were en route, callers said one of the people involved had stabbed the other.

"When Troopers arrived, the victim was bleeding profusely from her left arm from a knife wound," MSP 2nd District said in a post on X. "Troopers applied a tourniquet on her upper left arm which slowed the bleeding."

EMS arrived and transported the woman, who had been driving a white truck seen in photos from the scene. to a local hospital. 

The freeway reopened by 5 p.m. but the circumstances for the closure was not released for more than two hours afterward.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Michigan State Police Second District phone number at 313-456-0020 or call 1-855-MICH-TIP.