Large Rock Injures Woman On I-95

Others Reportedly Hit In Same Area

POSTED: 10:11 a.m. EDT June 10, 2003
UPDATED: 5:25 p.m. EDT June 10, 2003

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. -- A New York state woman is listed in critical condition with injuries suffered when a large rock was pushed onto her car from an overpass on Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County.

The 30-year-old newlywed woman was riding in the passenger seat next to her husband late Saturday when the rock smashed through the car's windshield as they drove north on the interstate under the Route 607/Guinea Station Road overpass.

The couple was going home from their honeymoon.

State police investigators said the rock weighed approximately 70 pounds. Police have not released the woman's name, but said she is from Rochester, N.Y.

The woman is hospitalized in critical condition. Investigators said she has facial injuries and has lost one of her eyes.

Seven other vehicles traveling the highway at the same time were damaged by rocks and debris, which flattened some tires. There were no other injuries.

Anyone with information is asked to call Eric Futrell, special agent in the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, at (800) 572-2260.

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How awful! To have such a vicious, senseless crime committed you on the way back from your honeymoon just breaks my heart.

After seeing the car, I'm suprised anyone survived.

I suspect that if someone is arrested in this it might qualify as a hate crime.

Random act of violence against innocent drivers.

I have seen that look of hatred in people who have zero disregard for anything but themselves...Cheap thrills no matter what the cost is....um, that is a hatred toward humanity in my book.

I caught the story on the news last night. I saw the damage to the car and rock itself, which was the size of two basketballs side by side. It doesn't look good for the lady hurt. She has massive head trauma and is not breathing on her own, only through a venilator.

One thing mentioned was the police were looking into the distinct possibility that it was done by high school kids as there is one less than a half a mile away.

Amen. If he/she/they even HAVE a conscience.

They will be caught. Jerks like that can't keep their mouth's shut.

CSI

I know rural counties can't afford the type of lab we see on CSI but this is a good opportunity to put it to use.

Rocks like that are used in abutments and hoisting it up to an overpass requires a good deal of strength. Sweat?
Roadways still have a lot of spring dust & road wash...foot prints.

Gotta lean over a rail to drop it skin cells.

Then narrow down the local community because this isn't the "out-of-towner" type of crime.

Attempted murder charges follow. Even against a Juv.

Imagine if this crime has no suspects...this is the perfect random crime that turns on psychos and terrorists...cost of preventative cameras? Astronomical.

Answer: Impartial, cold justice...immediate and fair.

Just a couple of weeks ago when I was home, "The John Walsh Show" had a segment about such a tragedy about 15 years ago, where two teens at the time who didn't have anything else to do, and were bored. One of the young men threw a boulder off an overpass, subsequently killing a woman. Her daughters were in the car at the time and witnessed the tragedy. The daughters of the woman were on the show, and the guy is still ln jail...where he should be for the rest of his life. Wondering now if some jerks saw this segment, and got ideas.

About 25 years ago, they had the same problem on Suitland Parkway. I and my sister and a friend were coming from work, and were driving under the underpass. Some young kids were on the overpass, and were throwing stones/large rocks; one rock hit the side of our car (where I was sitting). Luckily, I and no one in the car were injured, or worse yet, killed. I believe other incidents in the days before and after did injure folks.

Originally posted by Hessian
I suspect that if someone is arrested in this it might qualify as a hate crime.

Random act of violence against innocent drivers.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression that hate crimes were the opposite of random. Like if the driver of the car was black and she had been targetted with the rock, specifically because she was black, then it would be a hate crime.

Not that it makes this case any less dispicable.

Originally posted by Toxick
I was under the impression that hate crimes were the opposite of random. Like if the driver of the car was black and she had been targetted with the rock, specifically because she was black, then it would be a hate crime.

Not that it makes this case any less dispicable.

Click to expand...

Would it be a hate crime if she had of been white, and the person or persons that committed the crime were black, which may also be the case, as he/she/they haven't been caught. I hope whoever did this, no matter what color the criminal is, should be be prosecuted to the highest level.

Originally posted by cariblue
If the perp hates cars, would that make it a hate crime?

Click to expand...

Exactly.

Originally posted by Flo
Would it be a hate crime if she had of been white, and the person or persons that committed the crime were black, which may also be the case, as he/she/they haven't been caught.

Click to expand...

I would imagine so. I'm pretty sure the hate crime laws do not have a disclaimer which says "Void if victim is caucasian."

Originally posted by Flo
I hope whoever did this, no matter what color the criminal is, should be be prosecuted to the highest level.

Click to expand...

Ditto. I've always thought the concept of "hate crime" was ridiculous. If you deliberately drop a rock on someone and kill them, does it really matter why you did it?

That's part of the reason I threw out the "Hate Crime" suggestion. It could broaden the definition in the court of crimes, then the Supreme court would have to rule it as unconstitutional.

A huge number of crimes are based on hatred. The term is also too broadly defined. Why not throw it out as much as possible to make people realize it is an invalid charge?

Maybe they caught them...

http://www.msnbc.com/local/WRC/A1656701.asp

They aren't saying they are linked to the boulder incident - but you never know.

Originally posted by Blondie76
Maybe they caught them...

http://www.msnbc.com/local/WRC/A1656701.asp

They aren't saying they are linked to the boulder incident - but you never know.

Click to expand...

Hope this is not starting to be "copycats."

Here's an updated article. I hope to god they find these idiots.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/2267270/detail.html

Update: Newlywed Nearly Killed by Boulder Recovering

Fredericksburg, Va. - Daphne Gipson is making a strong recovery, six months after a 70-pound chunk of granite thrown from a Spotsylvania County overpass shattered her face and nearly killed her.

The Rochester, N.Y., woman is now walking without a wheelchair, and has been going Christmas shopping with her mother. She looks forward to the day she's able to return to work at a center for children with special needs.

To her family, it's a miracle that she's alive.

On June 8, someone on an overpass dropped a sharp-edged piece of granite, which smashed through the roof of Brian and Daphne Gipson's car as they headed home on Interstate 95 from their honeymoon in Florida. The boulder broke nearly every bone in her face, leaving her clinging to life. Her husband was uninjured.

In the days after the incident, doctors at Inova Fairfax Hospital warned relatives that Gipson probably wouldn't survive her massive head injuries. She was in a coma for two weeks and on a respirator for more than a month.

Police hunting for the vandals waited for the case to become a homicide investigation. But Gipson refused to die.

"She's come a long way," her husband told The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg from the couple's Rochester home. "It's truly a miracle."

In August, Gipson was released from the Fairfax hospital and flown to a rehabilitation center in Rochester. She had to learn to walk and talk again, how to dress and feed herself, how to master the simplest tasks.

Gipson, 30, was released in November, finally going home five months after her wedding. She attended outpatient rehabilitation sessions until just last week, improving her speech and cognitive skills, range of motion and memory.

True to her character, she befriended other patients, encouraging them to stay strong.

"Just like always, everywhere she goes, people love her," Brian Gipson said.

His wife still suffers profound memory loss. Her short-term memory is especially poor, making it difficult for her to concentrate.

"She's still trying to learn everyday tasks, like cooking and cleaning," her husband said. But it's all slowly coming back.

She's also starting to remember her wedding day on May 31. Three days later the couple left for Florida, visiting Disney World and stopping to see relatives who couldn't make it to the ceremony.

She remembers nothing about the honeymoon or the accident.

"That's probably for the best," Brian Gipson said.

Daily life for the Gipsons revolves around regaining normalcy. The couple attends church every week, sometimes at her old church and sometimes at his, where the two got married.

"It's really important to her," Brian Gipson said. "She's very happy because she knows that she could have died. She is real thankful to God."

Since their return to upstate New York, he's taken his wife for four or five visits to the school where she used to work.

"The kids really, really miss her," he said. "Every time we visit, they can' t stop hugging her."

He tries to help his wife improve her memory and cognitive skills by quizzing her about what happened on television shows they watch and playing card games.

She'll be back in Virginia this spring for a third reconstructive surgery at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

"I don't know if she'll ever fully recover, but she's made an amazing recovery so far," Brian Gipson said.

State police are still searching for the vandals, after hundreds of leads have failed to turn up suspects. Investigators told the Gipsons they performed polygraph examinations on some teenagers from Massaponax High School in November, but they all passed.

"We're still hopeful an arrest will be made," Brian Gipson said. "It's wrong that whoever did this to her is still free."