# Couple wonders what caused smashed windshield while driving on U.S. 36 **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575 "2014-02-06T11:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert-Gift](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/robert-gift/32/356_2.png) [@Robert-Gift](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Robert-Gift)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/1 "2014-02-06T11:02:53Z")
> **[Couple wonders what caused smashed windshield while driving on U.S. 36](https://kdvr.com/news/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/)** > > WESTMINSTER, Colo. — A couple was driving along U.S. Highway 36 in Westminster after a Super Bowl party Sunday when something smashed their windshield.This is at least the second time this ha… WESTMINSTER, Colo. — A couple was driving along U.S. Highway 36 in Westminster after a Super Bowl party Sunday when something smashed their windshield. This is at least the second time this has happened in that area. Hema Mullur has their story in her video report. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/2 "2014-02-06T17:10:35Z")
Legion of Boom. ---
**Author:** ![Stoveguyy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Stoveguyy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Stoveguyy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/3 "2014-02-06T19:02:18Z")
yawn, i was hoping you might say what broke the windshield so i would not have to follow the link. so, i did not find out. ---
**Author:** ![Robert-Gift](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/robert-gift/32/356_2.png) [@Robert-Gift](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Robert-Gift)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/4 "2014-02-06T19:05:57Z")
^ I also was hoping it would all be here. Maybe the notorious freeway glass shooter has taken up position in northwest metropolitan Denver. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/5 "2014-02-07T05:43:14Z")
A bullet would penetrate the windshield and not leave a large crater as shown in the video. A rock, hail pellet, or something of similar size would do it. Also, did this happen under an overpass or in open road? ---
**Author:** ![jesmed1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jesmed1/32/2097_2.png) [@jesmed1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jesmed1)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/6 "2014-02-07T06:55:17Z")
The spherical shape of the impact and the fact that it was identical in shape and size to an earlier impact means some idiot is out there launching spheres like baseballs at passing cars…maybe with a large slingshot or perhaps a spud gun…probably from the “nearby baseball field”…launching up in the air towards the roadway, and the baseball comes down onto a passing car. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/7 "2014-02-07T07:03:07Z")
Probably vandals tossing something from another car or the roadside somewhere. It’s not that rare. The last time I was in Westminister, CO I got a call from a hotel desk clerk at 6 in the morning advising me that someone had broken a window out of my Subaru. The thieves had helped themselves to a few electronic items and a tool kit. They had also broken into a van parked next to me and stolen a fortune in electronics. The van driver was a sales rep for high end electronic test equipment in the medical field. All done right under the lights, within a 100 feet of the office, and right next to a busy 4-lane. We both filed an obligatory PD report that would go nowhere. The cops said this was common and we were unlikely to ever see our stuff again. Still waitin’ for a followup… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/8 "2014-02-07T07:22:11Z")
Kids on bridges with rocks, nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/9 "2014-02-07T07:49:49Z")
About 10 years ago some punks (never caught) dropped a stolen 25 pound grave marker with flower vase from an overpass on a turnpike here in OK. A truck driver was critically injured. About 5 years ago some punk who had been dropping rocks dropped a jar of acid from an OK turnpike and disfigured a woman who caught it in the face after it came through the windshield. The people who do this stuff should be taken to the woodshed for a long, long, long time and made to pay for the rest of their worthless lives. That’s my polite way of putting it. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/10 "2014-02-07T07:57:46Z")
So unless someone sees someone so that a suspect can be identified there is not much the Police can do? Huh, did I hear that right? I thought thats what detectives and Police did? Isn’t that the definition of detective, to detect who and arrest them? I guess there are other priorities until someone is killed by one of these objects-which has happened before in other similar incidents. Sorry to be so hard on these folks but thats why they go to school and get paid $80K-to do more than write reports and tickets. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/11 "2014-02-07T09:29:50Z")
“So unless someone sees someone so that a suspect can be identified there is not much the Police can do?” Exactly right. Even if the police catch someone doing the exact same thing, they can’t charge them with any prior crimes. How do the police know that the perps are guilty of all similar crimes? The criminal can only be prosecuted successfully for crimes that the police have hard evidence for. Similarity might lead to a new investigation of past, similar crimes but new evidence must tie the criminal to the crime. Circumstantial evidence doesn’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/12 "2014-02-07T09:40:38Z")
In the examples I mentioned no suspects were ever arrested or charged as far as I know. This kind of thing often happens at night and by the time anyone figures out what has happened the suspect(s) are long gone. Accessing a dirt road that crosses over the turnpike might require an officer to go down 10 or 20 miles before even being able to cut back to that road. In the case of the lady who caught the acid in the face, she is Dr. Phil’s sister-in-law and it was rumored at one time that a person who died in a traffic accident later on may have been the one behind that crime but since he’s dead and there’s no proof any further investigation is not going anywhere. With the truck driver and grave marker, that happened at 1 in the morning. Any suspect would be gone into the winding wooded roads before the law even showed up at the accident scene. ---
**Author:** ![Robert-Gift](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/robert-gift/32/356_2.png) [@Robert-Gift](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Robert-Gift)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/13 "2014-02-07T09:49:31Z")
^ Yes. Cowards often can flee and not be caught. But doubtful they meant to harm the driver. Wonder if police considered finger-printing the object? (Years ago I did some fingerprinting for fun and we got lots of usable prints from pieces. Just can’t touch the pieces - which is human nature to pick up and examine.) ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 11:35am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/14 "2014-02-07T11:35:49Z")
I understand its not easy and prosecution is difficult but people are convicted by juries on circumstantial evidence all the time. Heres the thing, you had three or four instances, plus the truck. It shouldn’t be hard to determine fairly easily where exactly the cars were and where the truck was. From that you can determine if it came from a bridge, another vehicle, or somewhere else. There is snow on the ground. More than once, footprints have been followed right to a person’s house. If another vehicle, might be a little hard unless there are highway cameras nearby, but still I think there should be some effort. ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/couple-wonders-what-caused-smashed-windshield-while-driving-on-u-s-36/83575/15 "2014-02-07T18:13:55Z")
I think it was a piece that fell off of a damaged UFO trying to get to Area 51 for repairs.