A Southeast Michigan Auto Crimes Consortium officer shot a driver early today after the man allegedly struck a fellow task force officer with his vehicle and fled during an attempted arrest in Ecorse. The confrontation started around 5:45 a.m. in the 100 block of Southfield Road, where officers were trying to arrest multiple people riding in a vehicle tied to a series of vehicle break-ins. Police said the driver left the scene before he was taken into custody following a pursuit and transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to WXYZ Channel 7, the driver accelerated and struck the task force officer as officers moved in to make the arrest, prompting another officer to open fire and strike him. Police said an investigation into the shooting is underway, and Michigan State Police has since taken over the criminal review. The officers involved are part of the Southeast Michigan Auto Crimes Consortium, a task force that includes federal, state, county and local law enforcement partners.
Dearborn-Led Task Force Behind the Attempted Arrest
That consortium is managed by the Dearborn Police Department, whose chief has taken on an increasingly prominent statewide role in fighting vehicle theft. Michigan's governor appointed Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin to a four-year term on the State of Michigan's Automobile Theft Prevention Authority Board of Directors in March 2026, according to the Dearborn Police Department. The appointment underscored the city's outsized role in coordinating regional auto theft enforcement across Wayne County.
The task force traces back to June 2023, when Dearborn police launched a dedicated regional auto theft unit before expanding it into today's multi-jurisdictional consortium, as reported by WXYZ Channel 7. The consortium relies on state auto theft grants and cooperation among multiple city police departments to track vehicle break-ins that cross municipal lines. In September 2025, a federal grand jury indicted eight Metro Detroit men following a joint Dearborn police and consortium investigation into an international ring accused of stealing high-end vehicles and shipping them overseas in freight containers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Wayne County's Outsized Share of Michigan's Stolen Vehicles
The Ecorse arrest attempt reflects a broader enforcement push in a county that leads the state in stolen vehicles by a wide margin. Wayne County recorded 7,088 motor vehicle thefts between January and October 2025, more than half of the 14,054 thefts reported statewide, according to the State of Michigan Automobile Theft Prevention Authority. The Michigan Attorney General's FORCE Team charged six suspects in May 2024 in an $8 million regional auto theft ring spanning 40 jurisdictions, per the State of Michigan Attorney General's Office, which noted that ring members frequently rammed security vehicles and drove aggressively at officers when confronted.
Nationally, vehicle thefts have been trending down sharply. Reported thefts fell 23 percent in 2025 to 659,880 incidents, following a 17 percent decline in 2024, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, marking multi-decade lows after a post-pandemic surge in vehicle thefts.
Michigan State Police Now Reviewing the Shooting
Because task force officers from multiple jurisdictions were involved, Michigan State Police is conducting an independent review rather than leaving the case to Ecorse or Dearborn police alone. Under Michigan State Police Procedure Manual 09-10, an independent Investigative Response Team must handle the criminal investigation whenever the agency is asked to review an officer-involved shooting or other critical use-of-force incident, according to Michigan State Police protocol. Investigations of this kind typically take several weeks to conclude, and charges against the driver remain pending review by prosecutors.
It remains unclear whether the officer struck by the vehicle suffered any injuries or what charges, if any, will ultimately be filed against the driver. Under Michigan Penal Code MCL 750.81d, assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer performing official duties is a felony punishable by up to two years in prison, a maximum that rises to four years if the officer is injured, according to the Michigan Legislature.
A Pattern of Police Shootings Tied to the Region's Task Forces
Wednesday's shooting is the second police shooting in Ecorse in three months. In May 2026, an Ecorse officer shot a 37-year-old domestic violence suspect who charged at officers with a box cutter on High Street, according to CBS News — a case Hoodline covered as it unfolded. Dearborn officers have also used force recently elsewhere in the region: in late July, an officer wounded a 53-year-old armed man who emerged from a home shouting during a late-night disturbance call on New York Street, as FOX 2 Detroit reported, a case Hoodline detailed soon after. In both cases, Michigan State Police carried out the independent investigation, just as it is doing now in Ecorse.
