‘I was a random victim,’ man injured by frozen water balloon thrown through windshield
By Peyton Headlee
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MARYSVILLE, California (KCRA) — A man in Yuba County was injured when a frozen water balloon was thrown through his windshield, sending shattered glass into his face and eyes, prompting an investigation by the California Highway Patrol.
The incident occurred Thursday night on Highway 20 near Hallwood Boulevard.
“It came through the window and hit me in the face. Forced a lot of this glass into my face, in my eyes,” the victim, Alex Plant said.
Plant said he was heading home from work around 9:30 p.m. Thursday night, driving about 45 mph on Highway 20 near Hallwood Boulevard, when he said a car traveling in the opposite direction threw something out the window.
“I barely saw it for a quarter of a second before it just came straight through,” he said.
Plant was able to pull off the two-lane highway, but had to ask Siri to call 911, still confused about what had hit him.
“My eyes were already starting to close up, so I couldn’t even look at the phone if I wanted to,” he said.
A piece of white balloon stuck in the shattered glass painted a clear picture of what happened as first responders arrived. Plant was then taken to the hospital, where he said medical staff spent hours removing shards of glass from his face and eyes.
“I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to see my family, to be honest with you. It was really stressful,” Plant said.
Still, he noted that his vision isn’t what it used to be.
“Out of this right eye, if I were to close the left one right now, you know, everything’s a little bit blurry. It’s hard to focus a little bit. And like I said, just the sensitivity to light,” he said.
Plant is left questioning if his eyesight will ever be the same and why someone would commit such a harmful act.
“I was a random victim, but somebody didn’t randomly do this act, right?” he said. “Somebody went through all that trouble to, like, freeze it, tie it off, you know what I mean? And then throw it through the windshield before it defrosted. That’s just crazy. Somebody went through all of that for just a random act of violence.”
California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, but a spokesperson said they have limited information and no witnesses. Officers are working to identify the suspect and the suspect vehicle.
Plant and his family are asking anyone with information that could assist in the investigation to contact the California Highway Patrol.
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