Woman suffers glass shard in eyes as more cars damaged by thrown rocks on I-90

Doctors had to remove glass shards from a Seattle woman’s eye Monday, after a rock crashed through the passenger window of a car on a stretch of I-90 where dozens of other drivers have been attacked with thrown or dropped heavy objects.

“It was actually a rock,” said Jackie, who asked KIRO 7 News not to use her last name. “It was as big as my fist. (We) heard a huge explosion. I was sitting in the passenger side, so the window is on my right.”

The car Jackie was in was traveling westbound on I-90 after midnight on July 4 -- approaching the I-5 merge, under the Jose-Rizal bridge overhead.

“Some bad guy, they threw the rock from that place,” she said.

Tiny glass shards sprayed into Jackie’s eye, causing instant pain.

“Because I got so hurt in a moment we didn’t have time to call the police,” she said. “We just went to the nearby Kaiser Permanente Urgent Care and the doctor there helped me to remove the glass in my left eye.’'

And the doctor told Jackie she’s extremely lucky.

“The best thing out of the worst is that I wear contact lenses at the moment. The doctor says the lens actually protected my eyes,” she said.

The next morning, she examined the damage and called the police.

The attack was among three others reported in the exact same area between the July 4 and July 6. In one case, a concrete patio paver was thrown from the side of the freeway and smashed the windshield of a car before it was gathered for evidence.

It’s estimated that 80 drivers have been attacked with thrown or dropped heavy objects along the very same corridor of I-90 and its merge onto I-5 since the first reports started coming in in early spring.

Last month, a man had to be cut out of his car and hospitalized, after a heavy thrown rock crushed his windshield-and knocked him out, causing him to crash into the opposite barrier.

The Washington State Patrol launched emphasis patrols weeks ago to capture the people doing the damage. So far, they’ve arrested three people, including a woman who lived in an encampment along I-90, but that hasn’t slowed down the attacks.

“It would be better if they can put up some fence on the highway. It’s dangerous. It could just protect us in the short term,” she said.

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