A Rhode Island man who died after being struck on Interstate 195 in Seekonk on Saturday night was a loving son but had long been “troubled,’’ his father said Christmas morning.

Anthony Perry, 29, of Pawtucket, was hit by a Honda Odyssey while fleeing a Seekonk police officer, according to Massachusetts State Police. When the officer attempted to stop Perry’s car, State Police said, Perry drove behind a Motel 6 on Fall River Avenue, jumped out of the vehicle, and ran onto the interstate.

Perry’s father, Antone “Pops’’ Perry, 68 and a Vietnam veteran, was in bed Saturday night when he received a call from two friends of his son, he said. The women told him he should come to the Motel 6, “and you need to get out here quick,’’ he recalled.

“I got to Seekonk, and all I wanted to do was go down to the highway and see my son,’’ he said. “They would not let me go. . . . They had it completely blocked off. They said the best thing for me to do was go to Rhode Island Hospital and wait. . . . They tried to revive him, and he just never woke up.’’

Anthony Perry was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital, State Police said.

The elder Perry said the Seekonk officer told him he had tried to pull his son over and issue a warning because his Nissan Maxima had a loud muffler.

“Anthony panicked. He jumped out of the car, jumped the fence, and ran onto the highway,’’ Antone Perry said in a phone interview. “That gives you an idea of how his thinking was. . . . He overreacted, all [because of] a muffler.’’

Antone Perry said he had offered to buy his son a new muffler for Christmas, but Anthony had procrastinated about getting the work done.

He left behind a daughter and three sons, his father said. His oldest child, the daughter, is about 11. His youngest son, Christian, is about 1.

“He’s the spitting image of his father,’’ the elder Perry said.

Anthony Perry had Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary tics, and had poor impulse control, his father said. He sometimes made bad decisions, Antone Perry said, but also had bad luck. The combination got him into repeated trouble with the law.

“Anthony was in and out of jail a lot,’’ Antone Perry said. “He was a lovable guy. He was fun to be around, but . . . he didn’t think like other people. He would act without thinking.’’

“He was my problem child,’’ he added. “They say there’s always one in each family.’’

Antone Perry said that, despite some of Anthony’s actions, “he had a great heart’’ and was a considerate son.

“If he was away from home, he would call me to let me know he was all right. He would tell me he loved me,’’ the father said. “We’re going to miss him deeply.’’

Anthony Perry was working for UPS, but his dream and talent lay in rap music, his father said.

“If he was here now, and he got on the phone and you told him your name, he could rap a song about you, just by you telling your name,’’ he said. “He was very smart.’’

He said his son was a gifted freestyler and would perform for free at local nightclubs, but “he never put 100 percent into what he really wanted.’’ He told his son “the rap game is one hard business to get into,’’ but the younger Perry lacked focus, he said.

Antone Perry provided the Globe with a poem his son wrote for him, titled simply “Dad.’’ In the poem, Anthony Perry described a difficult and sometimes bleak life but a father who always supported him.

“I was surrounded with life, friends, and a bunch of crap that never end,’’ he wrote. “I hung around gangstaz and got into some stuff. My pops was there for me because he knew the streets were rough.’’

His father told him it was important to get an education, he wrote, and Anthony earned his diploma at Pawtucket’s Shea Senior High School in 2007.

Anthony Perry had four older siblings from Antone’s first marriage, to a woman who died of cancer. He then married Anthony’s mother, and they had a daughter, Vanessa, 30; then Anthony, who turned 29 last month; and Keith, 27.

Antone said he raised Anthony and Keith on his own after their mother left.

He later had another son, Trey, 18, with a girlfriend who died in February. He said he was “trying to stay strong’’ for Trey, a high school senior.

“It’s tough, man. It’s been really tough for me,’’ Antone Perry said. Since his son’s death, he said, he has been sleeping with his photograph beside him. He will meet Tuesday with a funeral director, he said, and is considering having his son cremated.

“They can pour his ashes in my casket with me when I go,’’ he said. “That way he will always be with me.’’

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.