A Calgary man is now in possession of a rock that could have changed his life forever.
On October 30, Warren Flemming was driving south on Deerfoot Trail. He said just seconds after driving under the Seton Boulevard overpass, a tangerine-sized rock lodged in his back seat.
“I thought I was behind,” Flemming said.
“I thought it was definitely a backwards situation. I didn’t know what was going on, I just felt the clangs, felt the breaks. I felt glass hitting the back of my head.”
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He said the rock was thrown from the overpass, shattering his rear window and causing more than $3,500 in damage. As he pulled off the side of the road, he made eye contact with the person he believed had thrown the rock.
“I looked up at the bridge only to see a child – probably 11 (or) 12 years old – looking over the bridge and then ducking behind the bridge as soon as I looked up,” said Flemming.
“I kept staring for a while. He looked over the bridge again, saw me looking at him and then he bolted.”
Flemming owns Paw Butler Dog Boarding in Rocky View. Because of his way of working, on any given day there could have been several dogs in the back of his truck and possibly injured.
But that’s not his worst fear – he said it would have been if his three sons were riding with him.
“I have a one-and-a-half-year-old, a six-year-old and an 11-year-old, all of whom would have been in the back seat if I had taken them with me,” Flemming said. “And my one-and-a-half-year-old looking back, he could have been hit right in the face with this rock.”
According to other drivers who live in the area, this is not the first time that a stone has been hurled from this flyover.
About a year ago, Kayla Walsh said the sunroof on her Toyota Sienna was blown off.
“Every time we go under an overpass, I check what’s going on above before I go under. It’s just instinctive now,” she said.
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In a statement, Calgary police said “throwing objects off an overpass is not a fun prank or experiment.”
“It has the potential to cause serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants or pedestrians,” the CPS added. “The act of intentionally throwing a solid object from an elevated platform may result in criminal charges.
“The severity of the charges will depend on the outcome of the act, and can range anywhere from mischief to murder.”
While Flemming said kids will be kids, throwing a rock into traffic is not acceptable.
“Think five seconds ahead,” he said. “That rock could have cost me my life.”
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