SEATTLE — It was a confusing, and later terrifying, experience for Luis Leon Wednesday night when he became the latest victim of rocks being thrown onto Seattle area interstates.
“I was in shock,” Leon said, “How did this happen?”
He remembers a flash of white, happening in milliseconds so he didn’t have time to react. Then, he felt his Hyundai Tuscon shake as if he had run over something. Seconds later, he saw another car pulled over with its rear windshield smashed.
“At that moment, I realized it was rock,” Leon said.
He pulled over, looked under the car, and found fluids leaking from the undercarriage. He called a tow truck to get him home. His insurance is covering most of it, save a deductible, calling it ‘vandalism.’
“This is not vandalism, this is someone trying to kill people,” Leon said. “This is serious and it seems like it’s only going to get attention when someone gets killed which is horrible to think about.”
WSDOT and WSP have cleaned out debris and rocks from the sides of interstates and the paths near them periodically since these incidents began being reported.
Part of the problem for WSP is timing.
“That is obviously the frustrating part for victims and for us because we want to apprehend these individuals that most of the time are not there when we get there.” Trooper Rick Johnson with WSP said.
Johnson said they “need any and all information” to catch the person or people who keep throwing the rocks.
In order to respond quickly to these situations, WSP is asking anyone who sees rocks thrown on interstates to call 911.
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