DETROIT – Detroit officials state that terrorists hacked into a portable road sign placed along westbound I-94 in Detroit early Monday and re-coded the sign to display a racial epitaph referencing the Trayvon Martin case.
Motorists began calling police shortly after midnight to report the message said Rob Morosi, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The message of hate was up for about an hour before it was changed back to the original message warning of upcoming road construction.
Trayvon, 17, was shot to death in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who told police he acted in self-defense. A special prosecutor is now investigating the case.
“Someone either pulled over to the side of the road or walked down the slope, broke into the cabinet and changed the message,” Morosi said.
The cabinet houses a keyboard and hard drive for the sign, he said.
MDOT is working with the Michigan State Police, which has the sign, to try to determine who is responsible.
It’s not the first time a sign has been hacked, but in the past, people put up messages warning of zombies, ghosts or goblins, Morosi said.
“Nothing ever to the extent of the inappropriateness that we’ve seen here,” he said.
What really surprises me is that people who are that stupid have the ability to hack into anything