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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

CdA driver never saw rock coming that killed wife

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

NEWPORT, Ore. – A Coeur d’Alene man whose wife died when a rock crashed through their windshield earlier this month says he never saw it coming.

Gerald and Carol Martin had been vacationing at Beverly Beach near Newport. On Oct. 5, they set out for the ride home.

Martin, 67, recalls that as he approached the traffic signal at Salishan resort, he slowed down for the cars ahead that had stopped at the light. About 100 yards past the light, an anvil-shaped rock burst through the windshield of their pickup.

He remembers hollering to Carol: “What was that?” When she didn’t respond, Martin turned to his wife and saw her slumped against her seat belt. The rock had struck Carol Martin in the chest and neck, killing her.

The rock had rubber-scrape marks, leading investigators to think it may have been kicked into the air after getting lodged between the dual tires of a semi. It doesn’t appear that anyone threw the rock, and there are no cliffs or overpasses in the area.

“I hate the thought of this happening to her and happening to someone else,” Martin told the Oregonian newspaper. “Something needs to be done about trucks coming off a road that has rock on it. They need to be checked before they get back on the highway.”

State police Lt. Kelly Collins said truck drivers have told him that if a rock as large as the one that killed Carol Martin were wedged between a truck’s tires, the driver would know it. But no trucker has contacted police, making it unlikely that the truth will ever be known, Collins said.

Martin said family and friends gathered in Coeur d’Alene last week to remember his wife – a mother and grandmother, an avid square dancer and a skilled seamstress.

“She was such a beautiful lady,” Martin said. “We are Christian people. I know she didn’t suffer. I know where she went. But I am just so aggravated this had to happen. Get the word out. Something needs to be changed.”