Angela Wu-Kemp is much more aware of where she is driving these days, and even takes different routes, after she was on Whitemud Drive and a large rock came through her windshield as she crossed under an overpass.
At first, the Edmonton woman didn’t know exactly what had happened.
“I thought maybe my vehicle got shot at or something. My rearview mirror was just hanging off of the wires and everything. Then (I) realized that I had this big hole in my windshield.”
It happened the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 8, as she was driving west on the Whitemud, coming home from a meeting.
“Just after I passed the 53rd Avenue overpass, a baseball-sized rock came through my windshield. It shook me completely,” Wu-Kemp said.
While rattled, she was able to pull over and stop safely before calling her husband.
“I was absolutely covered in glass, in my hair, in my clothes, in my shoes. It was horrifying.”
The rock smashed through the glass, landed on the centre console and then bounced into her lap, Wu-Kemp said.
“Luckily I wasn’t injured; luckily I didn’t have my children with me and I was able to stop the car safely. But it could have gone so much worse if that rock came through my sunroof or if I had passengers or my children with me.”
While Wu-Kemp wasn’t injured, other people have been — in fact, a man was killed during a similar incident more than 20 years ago on the Whitemud in south Edmonton.
Robert Stanley, 75, died from a blow to his abdomen on June 1, 2002, when a 30-pound boulder the size of a basketball was dropped from a pedestrian bridge near 111 Street and crashed through the windshield of the school bus he was driving.
Two teenagers were later arrested and charged with manslaughter.
“I recall the incident from the early 2000 and, regretfully, that gentleman had lost his life,” Wu-Kemp said. “Looking at that incident with me — that could have happened, that could have been completely worse. So much worse.”
Wu-Kemp is speaking out now, after similar incidents happened last weekend along the same stretch of the Whitemud.
In the first incident, police were called to Whitemud Drive and 53 Avenue in the city’s southwest on Saturday, Feb. 10.
According to the Edmonton Police Service, a man was standing on the 53 Avenue overpass around 12:30 p.m. when he threw a concrete slab into westbound traffic on the Whitemud below.
Police said the chunk of concrete hit the passenger side windshield of a grey Subaru Outback.
A man in the passenger seat suffered minor injuries but did not require treatment by EMS.
Police believe the man then left, walking east along 53 Avenue.
Police said a similar incident happened about an hour later further east, near 99 Street and the Whitemud, at approximately 1:40 p.m.
In that case, police said the roof of a white Buick Enclave was struck by a man on the west side of the 99 Street overpass throwing rocks at cars traveling below.
The driver of the Enclave did not suffer any injuries and police were unable to find the item that struck the vehicle.
Wu-Kemp said she is disturbed and feel there were nefarious intentions behind the more recent incidents.
“I sometimes I chalk my incident up as maybe it’s just some dumb kids being reckless. But hearing that happened just four weeks after mine, makes me feel like there could be some connection to it.”
“It 100 per cent could have killed somebody.”
There was about $2,000 in damage done to Wu-Kemp’s vehicle, which she said was covered by insurance.
“Luckily my damage was only a couple thousand dollars. But what if I swerved and hit another vehicle, which then hit another vehicle or something?
“Damages could have been a lot more catastrophic.”
While the vehicle is easily fixed, her own sense of safety hasn’t been as easily restored.
“It’s gotten me changing my driving habits a bit. I’m a little hesitant when I’m driving under an overpass. My driving habits have made me take alternate routes or go up the overpass and then back down the overpass — especially on the Whitemud,” Wu-Kemp said.
She’d welcome more safety features to overpasses such as higher barriers, to help deter people from throwing items off.
Wu-Kemp filed a police report after the rock came though her windshield, and police said it would be considered a mischief complaint, not a collision.
The Edmonton Police Service confirmed a report was made on Jan. 8, but couldn’t say if that incident was linked to the more recent ones.
Wu-Kemp did not see who threw the item that hit her vehicle.
Police said in both instances this month, drivers described the man as approximately five-feet-eight-inches to five-feet-nine-inches tall, with an average build. He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up. In the second incident, the man was also reportedly wearing a black backpack.
The Edmonton Police Service is asking anyone who witnessed the incidents, or may have dashcam footage, to contact them at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone.
Anonymous information can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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