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Sheriff's office investigating after drivers hit by ice in different areas of Rochester Hills

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Posted at 9:15 PM, Feb 09, 2023
and last updated 2023-02-10 09:04:58-05

(WXYZ) — The Oakland County Sheriff's office thinks someone may be targeting drivers in a small area of Rochester Hills.

Over the past week, they've received at least five reports from people who say they were driving when a chunk of ice hit their car. Most incidents happened on or near Tienken Road.

"I mean, literally, the ice went straight in through there," said Michael Rota.

Rota is looking at a $3,500 repair bill. He says he was driving back from the post office when ice hit his car causing him to swerve onto the shoulder.

"I saw the arm, I didn't see the ice being thrown, but I saw the arm," said Rota.

He says at first he wanted to believe it was an act of nature.

"If it came off a tree, there would be a dent on the roof, the hood, maybe the windshield, but there was none of that," said Rota.

He says there is no doubt in his mind that someone intentionally threw a chunk of ice at him.

The Oakland County Sheriff's office is starting to get the same feeling. So far five people have come forward with similar stories.

On February 2nd a woman reported her car was hit near Silverbell Road and Kern Road. Rota's happened on February 3rd near Tienken and Brewster Road. Three more people came forward later that week, one being Tala Alahmar, a student at the University of Michigan.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office believes the incidents happened between 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 3 and they believe the suspect(s) were in a dark colored sedan.

"The car wasn't driveable," said Alahmar. "There was like a part of the windshield missing and I had chunks of ice and glass all over me."

Alahmar says it's a miracle she escaped with just a scratch on her face.

"Thankfully, that day I had left my shade down when I was driving and it took a lot of the impact," said Alahmar.

Alahmar says the last thing she saw before the ice hit was a white pickup truck fly by her. Like Rota, Alahmar didn't immediately think it was intentional until she got on Nextdoor app.

"I kept reading the comments, saw that it happened to a lot of people, and that's when I filed a report with the sheriff's office," said Alahmar. "And I was told there's another case similar that happened on the same night, same street."

Nextdoor posters have theories. Some think it may be just kids messing around, but at the moment police have no clear idea of the person or people who may have done this.

Rota says it was too dark and it happened too fast to see who the arm belonged to.

"I didn't get a description, so, you know, obviously that is going to hinder their investigation, but they are very good at what they do, so I am going to say, eventually, they are going to discover who did this," said Rota.

If you know anything, you can call Crimestoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.