A private detective says the Hummer-driving stranger who hit him with a drive-by snowball, injuring his eye and breaking his glasses, picked the wrong target.

Within hours, he says, he had used his investigative skills to learn where the man lived, what he did for a living and any troubles he’d run into, down to his most recent traffic ticket.

Now William Elich is suing Greg Scott Ely, alleging Ely fired a snowball from the rented Hummer as he passed Elich on Jan. 16. He’s seeking $4,350 in damages plus attorney fees.

Elich says he was about to enter Jake’s Grill for an early lunch when Ely came by in the Hummer with a “dashboard lined with snowballs.” The snowball that hit Elich broke the left lens of his glasses and bruised his eyeball, he says.

Elich said the loss of his “progressive bifocal glasses” forced him to miss work as a private investigator for eight to 10 days while he waited for a new pair of glasses. He’s asking for $2,500 for loss of wages, $225 for new glasses and $1,625 for noneconomic damages.