The I-80 rock throwing is a case of criminal rock throwing that took place along Interstate 80 (I-80) on July 10, 2014, in Union County, Pennsylvania, critically injuring and permanently disfiguring a passenger. The high-profile rock-throwing case has received constant media attention.
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Incident
Sharon Budd, 52, a schoolteacher from Uniontown, Ohio, was a passenger in a car being driven west on I-80 in Pennsylvania by her daughter on July 10, 2014, when a rock smashed through the windshield of her car, hitting her directly in the face. Budd suffered catastrophic injuries, including blinding of one eye. Budd's husband, Randy Budd, who was sitting in the back seat while the couple's daughter, Kaylee, drove, testified that when the rock hit the car it sounded like "an explosion." Matthew Baker, of Plainville, Massachusetts, who was driving a tractor-trailer truck, told police that a rock thrown from the overpass had hit his truck just before the rock struck the car in which Budd was riding.
Keefer McGee, 17; Dylan Lahr, 17; Tyler Porter, 17; and Brett Lahr, 18, were reportedly on a "troublemaking spree" late on July 10, 2014, when they began throwing rocks from an overpass at cars moving along I-80. McGee told police that the group had specifically planned to smash mailboxes with baseball bats and throw rocks at parked cars. They had stolen steaks from a grocery store, driven through a field of corn (damaging the crop), broken the windows of a house with a baseball bat, and stopped at a farm to pick up rocks to throw, before proceeding to the highway overpass. McGee was arraigned on charges of "aggravated assault, criminal trespass, propulsion of missiles into an occupied vehicle or onto a roadway, agricultural vandalism and recklessly endangering," on August 5, 2014. All four were charged with "aggravated assault, conspiracy, recklessly endangering, propelling missiles into vehicle, agricultural vandalism and possession of instruments of crime."
According to McGee, after hitting the car with the rock, the boys cheered. McGee told the court that "We were all laughing thinking it was funny. We laughed, tossed out rocks, and drove home.” They drove to the Lahrs' house where they began to watch a movie, but got back into the car and returned to the scene of the crime twice that night. On one of those trips, police noted the license plate number.
Arraignment and trial
Motions in the case were set to be heard April 30, 2015.
The three younger boys moved to have their cases moved to juvenile court. On April 30, 2015, Judge Michael Sholley ruled the 3 will be tried as adults, with the possibility of being sentenced for up to 25 years.
Tyler Porter, 18 at the time of the incident, pleaded no contest to a charge of "conspiracy to commit aggravated assault."
Gag order
An editorial in the Sunbury, Pennsylvania, newspaper has objected to the decision of Judge Michael Sholley to bar the victim and the public from his courtroom during a pre-trial hearing about permissible evidence scheduled for late April 2015, calling the decision inimical to an "open and transparent" judicial process.
Rock as deadly weapon
Defense attorneys have challenged the prosecution's claim that the rock was a "deadly weapon", claiming that it was merely a "delinquent act" unless the prosecution could demonstrate intent to produce death or serious bodily injury.
Sentencing
Brett Lahr (19) was sentenced to prison for 18 months to 20 years. Tyler Porter, Dylan Lahr and Keefer McGee were sentenced to serve 4 1⁄2 years, 22 months and 11 1⁄2 months, respectively.
Randy Budd
On August 7, 2016, Randy Budd died from an apparent suicide. After the Interstate 80 rock throwing incident severely injured Sharon Budd, Randy advocated for the Ohio Department of Transportation to install protective fencing on bridge overpasses.