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Bowling balls are being thrown at cars in St. Louis, drivers say

Posted at 9:34 PM, Sep 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-25 23:34:30-04

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – St. Louis drivers are on edge after two motorists said their vehicles were struck by bowling balls, according to KTVI.

Now, police said there could be a third victim.

The most recent case involves a woman who was driving home from her brother’s house Friday night.

“It was a horrible experience,” said Teresa Seavey, who was behind the wheel. Photos showed the damage done to her car.

Seavey said she was driving north on Tesson Ferry road toward Interstate 270 when she spotted a man walking close to the white line towards her. She was unable to move over. The next thing she knew, he rolled a bowling ball at her car, damaging her vehicle.

“At first you don’t even know something like that, someone would think about [doing] that," Seavey said. "It bounced along under my car and I kept driving, it went ka-thunk ka-thunk.”

She was shaken up but not physically injured. She thought the suspect wanted to force her to stop so he could carjack her vehicle so she drove to safety.

At her doctor’s office Monday, Seavey heard a similar story from a worker about another patient.

“So, she had a patient that early yesterday morning that told the same story,” she said. “Same location.”

Treff LaPlant remembered what happened to him in June.

“It was pretty scary, the impact from it was very forceful,” he said.

LaPlant said someone threw a bowling ball at his car, causing $6,000 in damages.

“The repair shop and the police officer thought initially it was a bowling ball,” he said.

In LaPlant’s case, he was driving south on Interstate 55 just before Mattis Road when someone traveling south with North Carolina license plates threw a bowling ball out their window, smashing LaPlant’s windshield. The shattered glass cut his arm.

“Kind of crazy what’s going through somebody’s mind that would want to commit something like that,” LaPlant said.

Both drivers shared their stories to alert other people to be aware of their surroundings when on the road. LaPlant filed a police report but said he hadn’t heard of any arrests. Seavey said she plans to file a police report although she called officers Friday night.