National News

Boulder pushed off California overpass kills car passenger

The California Highway Patrol says someone pushed the 35-pound, basketball-sized rock off a freeway overpass in Pasadena late Tuesday, sending it smashing through the windshield.

Francisco Lopez hugs his 13-year-old daughter, Jennifer, as she speaks to the press Thursday in Pasadena, California, about her brother, Christopher, 23, being killed when a 35-pound boulder went though the windshield as his pregnant wife, Guadalupe Gutierrez, right, was driving on the 134 freeway in Pasadena Tuesday night. Sarah Reingewirtz / Los Angeles Daily News via AP

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The pregnant wife of a man killed by a boulder that crashed through the window of their car near Los Angeles is pleading for information that leads to the arrest of the person responsible for pushing the rock off an overpass.

The California Highway Patrol says someone pushed the 35-pound, basketball-sized rock off a freeway overpass in Pasadena late Tuesday, sending it smashing through the windshield.

Twenty-three-year-old Christopher Lopez, who was in the passenger seat of the Toyota driven by his wife, was killed.

Guadalupe Gutierrez was unhurt, as was their 4-year-old daughter in the back seat.

Advertisement:

Gutierrez fought back tears Thursday as she asked for potential witnesses to come forward.

The highway patrol says investigators believe someone purposefully pushed the boulder into westbound lanes of State Route 134.