SAN JOSE, Ca. - A steel tow hitch that apparently fell off a vehicle on Highway 680 bounced on the road and crashed through the windshield of an off-duty San Jose police officer Wednesday night, hitting him in the face and leaving him with a concussion.
Officer Enrique Garcia, who was in street clothes and driving his own car, said he thought he had been shot in the face, said San Jose Sgt. Nick Muyo.
"We are happy that wasn't the case," Muyo said. "It does not look like it was a criminal act."
The hitch, he said, could have come off a tow truck in front of the officer or perhaps it got kicked up from someplace else on the road. "We probably will never know," Muyo said.
Garcia, 45, one of the San Jose Police Department's spokesmen, underwent surgery for his facial injuries and will require more, Muyo said. He also suffered a severe cut on his left arm. He was in stable condition at a San Jose hospital Thursday.
"That was about 15 or 16 pounds of iron that came through his windshield and struck him square in the face," Muyo said.
Garcia was on his cell phone talking to a family member about 7:56 p.m. when the hitch smashed through his windshield as he was driving southbound on Highway 680 near the Highway 101 interchange. He managed to pull over to the side of the freeway.
"That he was able to get out of the roadway and not cause an accident was unbelievable," Muyo added. "There were so many things that could have gone wrong that didn't. Had it hit him a couple of inches either way reporters would be writing a different story today."
Muyo said it may be some time before Garcia, a 15-year veteran of the police department, returns to his job. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Information From: San Jose Mercury News
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