Posted on 08/22/2014 10:17:52 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
Gainesville police said they arrested two men and continue to search for two more after the men threw rocks off an interstate overpass and struck two vehicles.
One of the two victims spoke exclusively with Channel 2 Action News and said the rock's impact felt like an explosion.
"It was like a bomb went off," said John Chumley. "It made the van rock, and then all of a sudden, the window just blew out against me."
Chumley said he had finished making a delivery and was driving south on Interstate 985 around 1:30 Tuesday morning when he thought he noticed people standing on an overpass. A second later, he said, is when the rock hit.
"On the drivers' door right above where the mirror is," said Chumley. "It obviously must have ricocheted and broke the entire window, and then it bounced down the side of the van."
The van still bears deep grooves from the impact. Besides some glass in his eye, Chumley said he wasn't injured.
Police said that 30 minutes later, the four men tossed another rock, hitting a car driven by a Habersham County man who asked to be identified only as Les. The rock crashed through his roof and landed in his back seat. Luckily, he wasn't injured either.
The boulder that hit Les’ car was the size of a small microwave oven. It left a 2-foot-wide hole in his roof, shattering the back windshield.
“Peeled it back like a sardine can," Les said. "A foot over to the left, and half-second later, quarter-second, it would have taken my head off."
Les also said the impact was like a bomb going off.
“It was just sensory overload. Couldn't comprehend what was going on. Glass flying, the explosion. It was scary," said Les.
Gainesville police said they kept a watch on the bridge after the first impact, and because of that, were able to identify the four men.
They arrested Khyrie Harris and Juan Peterson and charged them with felony criminal damage and terroristic acts charges. They said they're looking for Michael Ellis and Kendrick Harris, too.
"It's a very, very dangerous situation," said Gainesville police spokesperson Cpl. Kevin Holbrook. "I can't imagine what would possess these individuals to commit these heinous acts."
Chumley's attorney, Kevin Ford, said it's a miracle anyone survived the impacts.
"If you have an object the size and weight of a microwave striking you in the vehicle, certainly it's going to endanger your life, may even take your life," said Ford.
When I hear “boulder” I think of a huge rock, and I doubt any human could “toss” those.
Don’t think a 200lb rock is a boulder?
More “unarmed teens” ?
It is a very big rock, no doubt.
I caught two teenagers doing this. Snuck up on them. Me and a friend had them in a hold but with no cell phone back then not much we could do but end up lecturing them.
More SOB’s...................Sons Of Barack!
These ferals should get convicted of Attempted Murder and do a decade in a cage. Instead, however, they will plea to aggravated vandalism or some such, and be back among humans in about six months.
The ugly meter is going to have to be recalibrated for the guy on the far left.
That photo of the Khyrie Harris, looks as though he just got out of a federal penitentiary and or has been trying to change his looks through (bad) plastic surgery. The rock throwing was just to pass the time. Glad they were caught and those people involved lived through this.
The yute on the left ... just dayum.
They did that to me, I would be taking that car offroad, up to the bridge, and shooting them all down.
I think I’ve come with a new punishment:
Drop them in a potato sack.
Beat sack until bloody.
drop sack on any mountain top.
Let bears and cougars feast...
Should be removed from society for the res tof their lives. Maybe break their arms every six months so when the get out of prison they are not able to function as dirtbag thugs.
Looks like skin damage or possibly an old man.
Take a 10 lb rock in the face at 60 mph then get back to me.
I can only imagine. I got hit in the center of the windshield by a baseball-sized rock that apparently got pitched out by a dump truck ahead of me on the freeway... Scared the crap out of me. The sound was ear splitting and for a fraction of a second I thought I was being shot at. Took me a an eternity, or another fraction of a second, to realize it was just a rock and I needed most of all to retain control of the Jeep and not swerve out of my lane.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy in the middle ends up as a male model or actor.
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