DULUTH, MN – The frightening proposition of a rock crashing through your windshield apparently isn’t just confined to the 1300 block of 13th Street NE in Mason City, where juvies are known to try the nasty deed.
The Minnesota State Patrol said today that they, just like cops in Mason City, are searching for culprits who threw a rock off an overpass.
The Minnesota State Patrol said it is asking for the public’s help in locating a person who tossed a large rock off an overpass in Duluth on Sunday evening. The rock went through the windshield of a vehicle, injuring the driver.
The State Patrol believes the person was in the area of Interstate 35 and the 37th Avenue West overpass or the 40th Avenue West overpass around 11:20 p.m. The Duluth News Tribune reported that Matthew J. Fijalkiewicz, 22, was driving south on I-35 near the overpasses around 11:20 p.m. The rock sailed through the windshield of his 2013 Ford Taurus and struck him in the chest. His injuries were not life-threatening.
Here in Mason City, police have been called to the train trestle on 13th NE more than once in recent weeks. Police put a stop to a potentially life-threatening situation on September 12 when youths were throwing “large rocks” from that bridge onto passing cars below. Police officer’s squad car was struck, and the officer pulled over and noticed fresh damage in multiple places to the squad car from the rocks. Another motorist reported that someone had thrown a large rock from the same bridge and cracked the windshield on his vehicle, too. The juveniles were arrested. Police have been called back to that location since then, and in October, police were called back to that general area when callers reported up to four teens throwing rocks at cars.
