toledoblade.com --

Two boys, ages 15 and 17, were arrested yesterday by Toledo police after at least 10 vehicles traveling on I-280 were hit by rocks near the East Central Avenue overpass.

At least 20 people were in the vehicles, police said.

The two youths were each charged with seven counts of delinquency in connection with felonious assault. They were being held in the Lucas County Juvenile Justice Center pending hearings in the county's Juvenile Court.

Lt. Bill Moton declined to release the names of the suspects and the victims.

He said the number of charges against the teenagers may increase, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

Just after 5 a.m., authorities started receiving reports of rocks being thrown off the overpass. Later reports indicated that the rocks were being thrown from the vicinity of the overpass.

Police were still receiving telephone calls yesterday afternoon from people claiming their vehicles were damaged that morning in the same area.

Some motorists and their passengers, including a 10-year-old boy, suffered cuts and other injuries from shattered windshields as rocks entered their vehicles. No one was seriously hurt, police said.

One of the first callers was David Holmes, 43, of Toledo, who said he was on the interstate about 5:15 a.m. driving to his job at TRW Automotive in Fremont when his car was hit.

"It was a loud pop and my passenger side windshield shattered," Mr. Holmes said. "I pulled off to the side and called 911. That's when they told me there were other reports of cars being hit."

Mike Culling, of Mizar Motors, 6180 American Rd. East, said that one of the company's tractor trailers was hit.

"[The driver] said a softball-size rock went through the passenger windshield," Mr. Culling said. "He was able to pull [the tractor-trailer] over and file a police report."

Police crews responded to the area and found the two juveniles walking on the overpass about 5:30 a.m.

Lieutenant Moton said that while early reports from motorists indicated the rocks were thrown from the overpass, it has a fence on both sides at least 10-feet high that curves back toward the street at the top.

"We're still investigating where the rocks were thrown from," Lieutenant Moton said. "During the course of the investigation, we may find out they were thrown from the pillars [under the overpass]. But our first reports said they came from the overpass."

The incident reminded many of the Oct. 14 death of Dorothy Minggia, who was killed when a steel plate was dropped from a Norfolk Southern railroad bridge onto her vehicle traveling on South Ravine Parkway.

Jamie Pacheco, of 2018 Price St., is awaiting a murder trial in connection with that incident.

"There isn't a bone in my body that doesn't feel fortunate," Mr. Holmes said. "I knew this could have been so much worse."

Contact Clyde Hughes at:
chughes@theblade.com
or 419-724-6095.

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