http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim...icle-1.1868125
Ohio teacher driving on Pa. highway hit in face with 8-pound rock dropped from overpass
Sharon Budd, 52, was critically injured Thursday night after the boulder smashed into her car windshield. She had just hung up the phone with her soldier son, who was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan for a year, her husband said. Four teens have been arrested and charged with the crime.
BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, July 15, 2014, 6:58 PM
Sharon Budd remains in critical condition after Thursday night?s incident.
An Ohio school teacher who had just hung up the phone with her soldier son was smashed in the face with a rock and critically injured after four teens allegedly dropped the stone onto the woman?s car from an overpass above Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania.
Sharon Budd, 52, took the 8-pound boulder to her face around midnight Thursday near New Columbia, Ohio as she, her husband and 19-year-old daughter traveled toward New York City, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
Budd, a breast cancer survivor was sitting in the passenger?s seat, cruising around 65 mph, when the rock dropped from some 22 feet, smashing through the windshield.
?We were all awake and talking and wow, it felt like the car exploded,? husband Randy Budd told the Journal.
Police said the teens dropped the rock from the Gray Hill Road overpass, about 22 feet above the highway.
The Lake Township, Ohio woman lost an eye and had facial surgery to reduce the pressure and swelling around her brain. The mother of four remains hospitalized in critical condition at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa.
?It was the most gruesome thing that you could ever imagine,? Randy Budd told the Canton Repository. ?Right now the doctors have no idea, none, on how she?s going to come out of this,? he added.
The Edison Middle School teacher had just hung up the phone with her 28-year-old son Lucas Budd, an Ohio National Guardsmen scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan for 12 months this week.
She?d asked her eldest son to send a picture of himself from his Texas base, her husband recalled.
?He wrote back, ?I really miss you mom,?? Randy Budd told the Repository.
The Budds with their four children. Son Lucas was set to deploy to Afghanistan, but had it delayed after his mother was hurt.
?My son?s picture was the last thing she saw,? Randy Budd also told the Journal. ?She was crying, but it was a good cry.?
The couple?s daughter, Kaylee, was driving when police say four teens dropped the rock from the Gray Hill Road overpass.
Kaylee began to scream and slammed on the breaks as her father called 911. Randy and Kaylee Budd were uninjured in the incident.
Cops later noticed the same car twice driving by the scene early Friday and traced it to a local home. They arrested Brett Lahr, 18, and Dylan Lahr, 17, and charged them with aggravated assault in connection with the crime. Two juveniles were also charged.
Police believe the teens dropped the 8-pound boulder from this overpass onto unsuspecting cars traveling at highway speeds below.
Brett Lahr was held in lieu of $50,000 bail, while his brother was released on supervised bail, the Daily Item of Sunbury reported.
?A little luck and really good, solid police work,? state police said of the arrests.
Lucas Budd has had his deployment delayed so he can be with his family.
The family has raised more than $5,000 by Tuesday evening to help defray her medical costs.
?She?s a tough lady,? Randy Budd told the Journal of his wife of three decades. ?She?s a fighter.?
sgoldstein@nydailynews.com