Computer Crashes Into Windshield Monitor Dropped From I-90 Overpass Crashes Onto Car
Ted Slack thought the Mullan Trail overpass was crumbling above him when his car’s windshield suddenly exploded while he cruised along Interstate 90.
Broken glass covered Slack and his wife, Kathy, while the Pinehurst man frantically guided the damaged car to the side of the road late last month.
“The first words out of my mouth were, ‘Are you all right?’ and ‘What the hell did we hit?”’ Slack, 55, said Thursday.
The answer was embedded in the driver’s side of the windshield, just above eye level. A computer monitor dropped off the overpass had pierced the glass, the Idaho State Police said.
“We were just tickled to death to get out of that alive,” Slack said. “It was that serious.”
Pieces of the monitor have been sent to the state Department of Law Enforcement Forensic Laboratory in Meridian to be analyzed, the ISP said.
Leads provided by the people at the scene of the Oct. 20 incident have not led to any arrests and police now are asking anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that the monitor fell accidentally from a truck.
But if police determine someone dropped it intentionally, they could face a charge of assault with the intent to commit a serious crime, said ISP Sgt. Jay Komosinski.
The Slacks were on their way home about 8:15 p.m. after visiting their daughter in Post Falls. Ted Slack estimated they were traveling about 65 mph when the monitor hit the 1993 Chevrolet Beretta.
Pieces of the monitor’s plastic cover left a trail along the freeway for more than 100 yards. A cable that had connected it to the central processing unit still was attached to the piece of the monitor stuck in the Slacks’ windshield.
Fortunately, the monitor landed high enough on the car that the roof absorbed much of the blow. The force partially collapsed the roof and shattered the car’s sun roof, the ISP said.
“If that would have hit down lower where the windshield was I have no doubt that it would have taken my head off,” Slack said.
The Slacks escaped with cuts and scrapes. Damage to the car, which is being repaired, was estimated at $3,400.
Cars driving next to and behind the Slacks did not stop and apparently were not damaged, he said.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Slack has kept a sense of humor about the incident.
“I’ve been hoping that if some teenager did it, his daddy lives around the lake because I’ve always wanted to live there,” Slack said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Jay Komosinski or Cpl. Paul Berger at (208) 772-6055. Callers do not have to give their names.
, DataTimes