Rock From Truck Kills Woman in Nassau County

A three pound rock that fell from a truck flew through a car windshield, killing the front passenger in Old Brookville. Seventy-five-year-old Rita Oill was pronounced dead at North Shore University Hospital an hour after the 10:15AM incident. She and her daughter Marie Waters were out to do some Thanksgiving shopping. The truck's driver did not stop.

Newsday reports that the rock was "about five inches in circumference and about two inches in diameter" and that it "bounded" down the road before hitting Waters' car; additionally, many pieces of debris fell from the truck. Waters' husband Bill said when the rock hit the car, his wife "flinched, closed her eyes and ... the piece of debris went through the center of the windshield and struck my mother-in-law in the head."

Waters was driving a 1997 Honda Civic and the two vehicles were traveling around 30-40MPH. Nassau Homicide Detective Gary Ferucci says that the Civic's windshield "usually...won't break like that," but the impact was too great. He added that the driver probably didn't know about the incident, but the police department still wants to find him.