A San Diego Uber driver said his recent overnight shift ended when his windshield was shattered by a rock the size of a loaf of bread, which he believes was tossed from an overpass near Mission Bay.
Walter Aviles said he was driving a customer along SeaWorld Drive just before midnight Tuesday when the rock came “falling from the sky.”
Aviles saw the stone coming but could not get out of its path. It crushed the windshield and dented the hood of his blue Honda Civic.
He’s keeping a smile on his face despite what he describes as a life-threatening last ride of the night.
"I think I was very lucky. I mean, I was very lucky,” he said.
Luckily, the rock didn’t go through Aviles’ windshield and only put a severe depression in it.
"A big spiderweb like this. You couldn't see through it,” he said.
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Aviles was able to keep control and avoid further damage, but a new windshield and at least two days of lost wages will cost him between $400 and $500.
Besides the trip to the repair shop, his car and career remain parked until Uber gives him the OK to start driving again.
No additional reports of rock throwing in that area were made Monday night or Tuesday, but a Crown Point woman reported a similar incident in September.
Evgeniya Chadovich and her husband were driving down West Mission Bay Drive at around 10:30 p.m. when their car was pelted with rocks.
"All of a sudden we heard a really loud pop and we see our windshield starting to break,” said Chadovich. “When I got home and looked at my car I saw the scratches on my hood and the holes in my windshield, I then realized someone threw rocks at my car.”
Between November 2018 and March 2019, NBC 7 reported at least eight victims had objects thrown at them while driving near West Mission Bay Drive and Ingraham Street.
