In a startling incident that unfolded in Marysville, California, a local man found himself injured when a frozen balloon hurled from a passing vehicle smashed through his windshield. The unexpected projectile left Alex Plant with facial injuries as shards of glass were driven into his skin and eyes.

Recounting the event to KCRA, Plant described the moment of impact: “It came through the window and hit me in the face, forcing a lot of this glass into my face, in my eyes.” His journey home from work on Highway 20, around 9:30 p.m. on a typical Thursday night, took a dangerous turn as he drove at approximately 45 mph.

Plant says he was heading home from work around 9:30 p.m. Thursday on Highway 20 in Marysville, California, when it happened.

He said he was driving about 45 mph.

“I barely saw it for a quarter of a second before it just came straight through,” Plant recalled.

He was able to pull off the highway but needed to ask Siri to call 911.

“My eyes were already starting to close up, so I couldn’t even look at the phone if I wanted to,” he said, still confused about what had hit him.

But the piece of white balloon stuck in the shattered glass painted a clear picture of what happened.

Plant was then taken to the hospital, where medical staff spent hours removing shards of glass from his face and his eyes.

“I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to see my family, to be honest with you. It was really stressful,” he said.

Now that he is recovering, he says his vision isn’t what it used to be.

“Out of this right eye, if I were to close that one right now, you know, everything’s a little bit blurry. It’s hard to focus a little bit,” Plant said.

He’s left questioning if his eyesight will ever look the same and why someone would do something so hurtful.

“I was a random victim, but somebody didn’t randomly do this act, right? Somebody went through all that trouble to, like, freeze it, tie it off, you know what I mean? And then throw it through the windshield before it defrosted,” Plant said. “That’s just crazy. Somebody went through all of that for just a random act of violence.”