Major accidents in Metro Detroit, driver killed after getting wedged under semi, Whitmer fires back at GOP

A massive pileup of more than a dozen cars and a semi-truck has blocked traffic on a freeway ramp onto I-94. An unexpected freeze Wednesday morning has led to slippery conditions on roads throughout Metro Detroit.

Among the biggest accidents is on the eastbound onramp from I-696 to I-94 in Macomb County. The incident is likely to lead to massive delays for incoming and outgoing traffic. It's unclear if there are any serious injuries.

It's also among several crashes that took place Wednesday morning during the traditional morning commute hour for many.

A lot of the delays are coming from I-696 where all lanes are blocked in multiple parts of the highway in Oakland and Macomb County. While the eastbound ramp onto eastbound I-94 has been blocked, lanes are also blocked near  I-75.

Crews say another jackknifed semi-truck is blocking all lanes near Campbell and Bermuda. The barrier dividing east and westbound lanes on I-696 in the Ferndale Hazel Park area was knocked out due to the accident and traffic had slowed to a crawl.

Detroit police officer injured in knife attack

A suspect wielding a knife and friendly fire from another officer have both resulted in the non-fatal injuries of a Detroit police officer Tuesday afternoon.

The suspect was fatally wounded during the fight, however, he did stab the officer several times in the leg. The incident happened in the 20400 block of Hanna, just south of Eight Mile. The officer was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover.

Detroit police chief James Craig said he spoke with the victim's mother who said the suspect could have been on drugs or suffering from a mental illness at the time of the attack. It's unclear how he died, but Craig said it may have been self-inflicted.

"The officer was stabbed several times in the leg and we believe but we are not certain because the suspect was not armed with a firearm," he said. "When the officers returned fire to protect the officer he might have been hit by friendly fire with a single gunshot wound to one of his hands."

Charger went 95 mph before deadly crash with semi-truck

A 22-year-old man is dead after the Dodge Charger he was driving crashed into a semi-truck and got wedged underneath the trailer, cleaving off the top of the car. The crash happened in Grosse Pointe Park on the border with Detroit.

A witness said it looked like the car was going "at least 95 miles per hour" before seconds later when they heard an "extremely loud boom." Elton Kesto, said it was "so loud, it sounded like someone kicked the back door" of his Metro PCS shop.

The driver's godmother said she got a call from his mom, although she initially denied what she heard. "Then I saw the people around the car and they said the man is gone. The baby in there is dead." 

A police investigation has begun and there are lots of businesses in the area with surveillance footage that likely caught the accident.

Student paid for fake 911 call about school shooting

Macomb County sheriff deputies say a student at an area high school paid someone on the dark web to make a 911 call about a shooting at the school.

A suspicious emergency call was received Monday that someone had been shot in a home, before the person gave the address to the school. The call caused deputies to lock Dakota High School down while they checked to make sure everything was safe.

Authorities later determined that a student had used a social media app to hire someone to make the call. The student has since been identified and is being cooperative, police say.

The student is charged with making a false threat of terrorism. He has not been arraigned. 

Whitmer fires back at GOP over Florida trip criticism

The Michigan governor called criticisms from the Republican Party over her trip to Florida "maddening" in an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday. 

"A lot of these same people would accuse me of not having family values if I didn't show up when a family member needed some help, right?" she said during the wide-ranging discussion. Whitmer had traveled down to Florida for two days to visit her dad who has chronic health concerns.

She made the excursion around the same time she was recommending people avoid travel due to the coronavirus pandemic steamrolling through the state. State Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) called the move hypocritical.

Whitmer isn't the only public employee to have done out-of-state travel recently. Her health director Elizabeth Hertel visited Alabama recently as well.

What else we're watching

  1. General Motors has joined the growing list of companies that are offering its coworkers the chance to work from home. It's a sign that remote work is becoming a growing part of the white-collar workforce.
  2. An Oakland County Children's Village employee has been charged with videotaping minors at the juvenile center/ The Rochester Hills man was charged after a witness complaint.
  3. Michigan's Secretary of State has filed a lawsuit with the Michigan Supreme Court to enable citizens can offer feedback as the state's nonpartisan redistricting committee redraws boundaries for districts
  4. The state GOP has released a supplemental budget that allocates billions in federal aid to roads, schools, and infrastructure. The plan is a more detailed outline than the list of points Whitmer offered last week.
  5. Michigan State's roadside parks are reopening this weekend. MDOT says that 85 scenic parks will be open for visitors starting next week.

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Daily Forecast

Bet you didn't expect the winter wonderland to stick around did you? Because it did. And it's leading to some slippery conditions on the roads. Temperatures are going to remain in the 40s as they increase for Wednesday. Some warming should start to thaw us out by tomorrow.

How Darnella Frazier's video of George Floyd's death changed history

In the wake of the guilty verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, gratitude flowed on social media for Darnella Frazier, the then 17-year-old who filmed George Floyd’s death on her cellphone and refuted the original statement from Minneapolis police on what occurred.

Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of killing Floyd, 46, on May 25, 2020, at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue after he was seen on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's report ruled the death of Floyd a homicide.

A jury found former officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The centerpiece of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, "I can’t breathe" and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop. That video came from Frazier, now 18 years old, who shared it on social media.