Feras Hamdan: Road Rage Plea, Tesla Data, and Defamation Suit

The Feras Hamdan road rage case ended in a misdemeanor plea in February 2026 and then immediately spawned a pair of civil lawsuits that are still open. Hamdan, a Northeast Ohio family medicine physician, was originally indicted on two felonies and two misdemeanors over a June 2025 highway encounter with U.S. Representative Max Miller. On the morning his trial was set to begin, the felonies were dropped, he pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors, and hours later he sued Miller for defamation. Miller has since countersued.

What Happened on I-90

The encounter took place just before 9:30 a.m. on June 19, 2025, on Interstate 90 East in Rocky River, Ohio.¹ Miller, a Republican representing Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, said a driver in a black Tesla tailgated him, swerved into his vehicle, and tried to force him off the highway. Miller reported that the driver displayed a Palestinian flag on a cellphone, shouted “Death to Israel,” and threatened to kill him and his family. Miller, who identifies as a “proud Jewish American,” called the encounter “blatant anti-Semitic violence.”²

Hamdan’s account was different. His defense said he recorded Miller while driving and used derogatory language, calling Miller “racist” and “the congressman that’s against Palestine,” but made no physical threats. His attorney Issa Elkhatib called the complaint politically motivated.³

The Original Charges

Hamdan, then 36, turned himself in to Rocky River police. He pleaded not guilty at his June 20, 2025 arraignment, where Judge Joseph Burke initially set a $500,000 cash-assured bond.⁴

On July 8, 2025, a Cuyahoga County grand jury returned a four-count indictment:⁵

Ethnic intimidation, a fifth-degree felony
Tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, based on the allegation that Hamdan recorded part of the encounter, distributed the footage, and then deleted it⁶
Aggravated menacing, a first-degree misdemeanor
Menacing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor

The indictment alleged Hamdan drove side-by-side with Miller, swerved into his vehicle, forced him to take evasive action, and then followed him after Miller exited to call 911, all while shouting threats and antisemitic slurs.⁷ Bond was later reduced to $10,000.³

The Plea Deal and Sentence

On February 17, 2026, the morning trial was scheduled to begin, Hamdan took a plea. Both felonies were dropped. He pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, obstructing official business, and willful or wanton disregard of safety on highways. The menacing count was dismissed.¹

The judge imposed a 90-day jail sentence, fully suspended, plus one year of probation and 100 hours of community service. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O’Malley acknowledged the agreement was structured to let Hamdan keep his medical license.⁸

The Tesla Data at the Center of the Case

The reason the felonies collapsed, according to Hamdan’s team, was the data from his Tesla. Lead attorney Issa Elkhatib said the defense built a time-stamped record of the encounter using the car’s speed, braking, and location metrics, arguing it contradicted Miller’s version.¹

A January 2026 report produced by Firas Almukdad of TeslaMend, a Tesla data and repair firm, concluded that the front passenger-side window of Hamdan’s Tesla stayed closed throughout the morning of the incident. That, the defense argued, made it impossible for Miller to have heard threats shouted at highway speed. An acoustics expert, Jeffrey M. Cerjan, added that even with both cars’ windows open, human speech at highway speeds would be “scrambled and unintelligible,” and with the Tesla windows closed, vocalizations from inside would be “inaudible.”⁹

That window finding has since become disputed in its own right, and it drives the civil litigation on both sides.

Hamdan’s Defamation Suit Against Miller

Hours after his sentencing on February 17, 2026, Hamdan filed a civil complaint against Miller in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. He brought three claims: defamation, false-light invasion of privacy, and false writing under Ohio law, seeking compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, plus punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.¹⁰

The complaint accused Miller of fabricating key details, including the claims that Hamdan ran him off the road, committed “blatant antisemitic violence,” and threatened to kill Miller and his daughter. Hamdan’s lawyers argued the Tesla data and the acoustics analysis made those statements impossible.¹⁰

Miller’s Counterclaim

On April 27, 2026, Miller’s attorneys filed a 142-page answer, counterclaim, and third-party complaint. Miller’s counterclaims against Hamdan include assault, ethnic intimidation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil liability for criminal acts, and spoliation of evidence.¹¹

The filing reached beyond the highway encounter. Miller alleged that Hamdan had monitored him for nearly two years, beginning around October 2023 after Miller publicly supported Israel, and that Hamdan wrote in group chats with more than 40 associates that he “would lose it all to punch that POS” and “never wanted to fight someone so bad.”¹²

Miller also alleged a conspiracy to fabricate the Tesla data report. The third-party complaint named attorney Issa Elkhatib, Firas Almukdad and his TeslaMend companies, and “EZ” Assad and Straightline Collision Center as third-party defendants. According to Miller’s attorneys, the TeslaMend report intentionally excluded recoverable window data, was drafted with the assistance of defense counsel, and its author later gave “materially inconsistent accounts” to law enforcement under subpoena. The filing also pointed to a February 26, 2026 TikTok video by Elkhatib in which the attorney allegedly said the window data was critical and that the plea deal was secured specifically to enable the defamation lawsuit.¹²

Miller’s attorney Larry Zukerman said in a statement that Hamdan “pleaded guilty to crimes arising from a premeditated, antisemitic attack on a sitting United States Congressman” and called the defamation lawsuit “legally meritless” and “an affront to the justice system.”¹¹

Where the Case Stands Now

The criminal matter is closed. The defamation suit, Miller’s counterclaim, and the third-party complaint are all pending before Judge Jennifer O’Donnell in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. As of mid-2026, no rulings or scheduling orders in the civil case had been publicly reported, and none of the third-party defendants had publicly responded in court filings covered by available reporting.¹²

Hamdan’s Ohio medical license remained listed as “Active” in late June 2026, though the state licensing board’s records noted a board action dated June 10, 2026 with a directive to contact the compliance office for updated information.¹³ Miller’s attorney publicly expressed hope that the Ohio medical board would investigate.⁸

1
FOX 8 Cleveland. Westlake Doctor Sentenced in I-90 Road Rage Incident Involving Congressman Max Miller
2
ABC News. Congressman Max Miller Run Off Road by Driver
3
News 5 Cleveland. Bond Set at $10,000 for Man Allegedly Involved in Road Rage Incident With Rep. Max Miller
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Cleveland 19 News. Westlake Man Charged in Road Rage Incident With Congressman Max Miller
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Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. Feras Hamdan Indicted for Threatening Congressman Max Miller
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Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. Feras Hamdan Indictment
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Spectrum News 1. Grand Jury Indicts Ohio Man Accused of Threatening Rep. Max Miller
8
Cleveland.com. Westlake Doctor Pleads in Road Rage Case, Sues Rep. Max Miller for Defamation
9
Pattakos Law Firm. Cerjan Acoustics Opinion
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Pattakos Law Firm. Dr. Hamdan Complaint v. Max Miller
11
Zukerman Law. Congressman Max Miller Files Counterclaim and Third-Party Complaint
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Cleveland.com. Rep. Max Miller Alleges Road Rage Doctor Targeted Him for Years and Faked Tesla Evidence
13
Ohio eLicense. License Verification – Feras S. Hamdan