Woman's SUV Window Shattered As She Drives Down Eisenhower
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Are roadside vandals trying to pick off cars on the Eisenhower Expressway?
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, one woman has a frightening tale to tell after her drive down the expressway Wednesday night.
At 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, Holly Tlusty, a 46-year-old mother from two from Downers Grove, pulled off the inbound Eisenhower at Independence Boulevard after she suffered what she is calling the fright of her life.
"There was glass – shattered glass all over the back seat of the vehicle," she said.
At Kostner Avenue 3/4 miles earlier, her Toyota Sequoia sport-utility vehicle was sprayed with glass after a rear window was shattered.
"I was driving at the speed limit, 55, staying with traffic, when I heard a crash inside my car, and I didn't know what hit me," Tlusty said, "and I turned around and I saw shattered glass."
Police responded to Tlusty's 911 call, and told her they believed her window had been shot out.
"I thought it was a brick or a gunshot through the window, and it turns out it was shot through my window," Tlusty said. "The police said that sometimes punk kids hang out in that area, around the Cicero (Avenue) area about a mile before it happened, before the Independence exit, and they'll just take shots at cars."
Tlusty said responding officers indicated that it was likely a BB or pellet gun that was involved in the damage to her vehicle. But police News Affairs said Thursday that there is no indication whatsoever that a gun was involved in the incident.
As of midday Thursday, no suspects were in custody and the case remained under investigation.
Wilbert Crosby, 54, of the West Side, was driving down the expressway at Kedzie Avenue around 11 a.m. Sept. 4, when a 12-year-old boy dropped a rock from an overpass and shattered the windshield of his 1996 Chevrolet Astrovan.
Crosby was so angry that he pulled off the expressway, parked his van in the middle of the street, and took the boy to the nearby Harrison District police station, 3151 W. Harrison St.
Told about the latest incident, Crosby said he fears there may be copycats at work.
"After a while people start getting real paranoid about driving on the expressway," he told CBS 2's Mike Parker Thursday.
In a West Side gas station along the Ike, driver Faroll Robinson said he now keeps his eyes open.
"Coming up under this overpass here, you got to think about it," he said.
Chicago Police say their crime reports don't suggest that there's a trend.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
