A Frozen Water Balloon Was Thrown Through His Windshield. Now He’s Seriously Injured — and Police Don’t Have Any Suspects By Christina Coulter

A man driving home from work on a rural stretch of Highway 20 in Northern California was seriously injured when a frozen water balloon smashed through his windshield at high speed — leaving him temporarily blinded and unsure whether he’d ever see normally again.

Alex Plant said he was driving home around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, when a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction passed him and someone inside threw an object toward his car.

The object — later identified as a frozen, tied water balloon — burst through his windshield and sent shards of glass into his face and eyes, according to KCRA, ABC News and The Press Democrat.

“It came straight through,” Plant said, per KCRA. “I barely saw it for a quarter of a second before it just came straight through.”

Plant told the outlet he felt glass hitting his eyes before he understood what had happened, and his vision began to blur immediately.

He managed to steer his vehicle off the two-lane highway but said he couldn’t physically look at his phone. He used Siri to call 911 while his eyes swelled shut, according to the KCRA and ABC News.

First responders transported Plant to a hospital, where medical staff spent hours removing shards of glass from both eyes, per the outlets. Plant told the stations he wasn’t sure, in those first moments, whether he would ever see again.

“I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to see my family, to be honest with you,” he said, according to KCRA. “It was really stressful.”

Plant said the attack did not appear impulsive. “Somebody went through all that trouble to, like, freeze it, tie it off, you know what I mean? And then throw it through the windshield before it defrosted. That’s just crazy,” he said, per The Press Democrat. “Somebody went through all of that for just a random act of violence.”

The incident occurred near Hallwood Boulevard on Highway 20, northeast of Marysville. The other vehicle did not stop, and there were no immediate witnesses, according to the outlets.

The California Highway Patrol, which responded to the scene alongside paramedics, told ABC News that investigators are reviewing any possible surveillance footage from the area and working to identify the suspect vehicle. Officials said they currently have limited information. No arrests have been announced.

“That could have been somebody’s grandparents going out somewhere. That could have been some 16-year-old kid taking out the car for the first time,” Plant told ABC News. “That kind of individual probably wouldn’t have been able to handle themselves in the way that I did and pull over and have the wherewithal to ask Siri to call 911.”

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Plant and his family are asking anyone with information about the incident or the suspect vehicle to contact the California Highway Patrol’s Yuba-Sutter Area office.