Posted on 05/25/2004 5:37:36 AM PDT by TaxRelief
Bowling Ball-Size Rock Crashes Through Windshield On Interstate 75
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A passenger in a sport utility vehicle was killed when someone dropped a rock the size of a bowling ball off an overpass on Interstate 75 in Tennessee. The rock crashed through a windshield in the early morning hours Monday near Knoxville, a television station in Knoxville reported. Authorities are interviewing residents in the area, looking for witnesses.
A Michigan woman was seriously injured when a tombstone crashed into her car from an overpass along the same highway in 1995. The man who dropped it was sentenced to three years in prison.
A passenger in a sport utility vehicle was killed Monday by a 10-pound rock dropped from a highway overpass, authorities said. The rock, the size of a bowling ball, crashed through the windshield around 1:30 a.m. on Interstate 75, Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison said. Barbara Heasley Weimer, 69, of Knoxville, died of head injuries on the way to the hospital, police said. She was returning with her daughter and son-in-law from a graduation exercise in West Virginia. Police are investigating. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wild guess: an ecological "activist," mayhaps...?
Just heard on the radio that the cops would be hiding out in camo along the road to catch speeders. Perhaps guarding the overpasses would make more sense. Less revenue, of course.
More like a kid. Had it happen to me once when driving an over head cab Mack truck. Partner had just gotten out of the passenger seat and went back to the sleeper when a brick came through the windshield and landed in the seat he just got out of.
A woman driving on a Houston freeway was killed in this manner a few years ago. It happened again but I think the man was not killed. Kids prank turned deadly. Lock the little sob's up in detention.
It happened to me as well except my sister was seriously injured. She recovered ok after surgery and a hospital stay but it stll gets me mad as hell that these little animals do this stuff.
It was 2 13 year olds that did it and the state police did a great job tracking them down but the state laws at the time did not allow them to be punished at all.
Safety-in-SUVs ping.
Happened to me, too. I was driving alone at night and one kid ran across the freeway to slow me down, then a rock hit my car on the passenger side. I was lucky because the rock caught the little chrome trim just in front of the windshield and caused it to flip over the car. I called the cops when I got home, but I doubt that anything came of it.
The only damage was to that strip of chrome trim and of course my peace of mind. I wished I'd had my shotgun and could've gotten up to the overpass in time to kill these little rats.
I drove by on the overpass the next day and spotted some apartment buildings nearby. I guess some latchkey kids were bored and wanting something to do.
They should put fencing on the overpasses close to town.
Happened about 12 years ago near Nashville. Couple of kids thought it would be funny to drop a 25 lb rock onto a car and killed a Gulf War vet coming home from college. They didn't get nearly enough time.
Wow! I wonder if the person really dislikes SUV's.
My only question: Was the eeeeeevil SUV complicit in the crime?
I think this should carry with it an automatic death sentence.
"They should put fencing on the overpasses close to town."
No. They should let survivors of such "pranks" or their families get up on a building (say about 3 stories) and drop cinder blocks on these "children".
I'd pay to watch.
It was big news in Rochester, NY a couple years ago when this sort of thing happened to a couple driving back to NY from Florida after their honeymoon. The wife (passenger) was seriously injured and disfigured from a rock that came through the windshield. I believe it happened in Virginia. They never caught who did it.
We had the same problem in the DC metro area back in the early- or mid-70s, so highway crews had to cage in the overpasses with chain link fencing in "certain"-demographic areas. A woman was killed in one incident, and IIRC others were injured. Snipers watching the overpasses might work...
I had some friends in high school decide to pee on cars/trucks passing under an over pass on the interstate. They forgot to check the types of vehicles and the first one they picked turned out to be a state trooper. Big mistake, he did not take kindly to being on the receiving end of a golden shower. If it had been a simple overpass with no exit they would have made it. They pciked one with an entry and exit ramp.
Enough of these things have happened that I am sure the ecos have noticed that it is an effective tactic and relatively safe to pull off.
Friday, some little brats on a school bus threw a container full of spit at my car so it had to have been a group activity. Hit on the windshield right in front of me and spewed down the left windows so I couldn't see anything. Thankfully, I didn't swerve into another lane. I couldn't make a U turn quick enough to catch up to the bus but called the bus barn and gave them what for. Bwahahaha, I have ways and will eventually find the little buggers.
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