Cops: Road-rager now a hit-and-runner

Shaffiat Ali is a man who should not have a car, judging by how he's allegedly used his red Mitsubishi Eclipse since early May.

Two months after he got arrested for a road-rage incident in Center City, Ali, 31, got arrested again yesterday after he allegedly hit a pedestrian who was crossing Market Street near 2nd at about 1:20 a.m. and then tried to speed away, said Officer Jillian Russell, a police spokeswoman. A few of the injured pedestrian's friends gave chase, and officers on routine patrol spotted them and pulled Ali over, Russell said. The officers saw that his passenger-side windshield was smashed in a circular pattern, consistent with hitting someone, and took him into custody, she added.

Ali, of 12th Street near Reed in South Philadelphia's Passyunk Square neighborhood, was charged with driving under the influence, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and related offenses, according to court records. He was jailed on $50,000 bail pending a July 23 status hearing, records show.

The pedestrian remains in stable condition at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Russell said.

Ali, who police have said works as a delivery driver, was out on $100,000 bail for a May 12 incident, in which he allegedly shot out the window of another driver's car with a BB gun.

In that case, the 28-year-old victim was driving with her 4-month-old daughter and another girl in the car when Ali began to follow them for for a few blocks before he shot at her window at Broad and Lombard streets. Nobody was injured and part of the attack were captured on video. He faces a July 16 preliminary hearing on aggravated assault and related charges, court records show.

Terrorizing Philadelphia's roadways aren't Ali's only alleged offense, records show. A search of Pennsylvania's Megan's Law website indicates that Ali was found guilty of second-degree rape in New York state and was required to register as a sex offender beginning in 2010. He also has an open drug-possession case stemming from a May 3 arrest, court records show. He faces a Sept. 15 trial on that charge, according to records.