A Hastings father-of-one with another baby on the way narrowly escaped tragedy last night when an empty Jim Beam bottle was hurled through his windscreen from a passing car.
Caleb Olsen was on his way to Pak'n Save in Tamatea, where he has been working the night shift as a baker for the last six months, about 11pm yesterday.
Shortly after turning onto the Hawke's Bay Expressway his car was hit by a bottle, believed to be thrown from a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction. It smashed windscreen and struck the man on the shoulder.
"Out of nowhere there was a big smash and a big thud on my shoulder and glass in my face," Mr Olsen told the New Zealand Herald. "I couldn't see anything."
Mr Olsen said he "knew instantly" it was a bottle because he could smell alcohol.
"The thing I thought of straight away was my kids. I'm still thinking about it now, the memory of the glass shattering in my face is overwhelming."
The bottle glanced off his right shoulder after hitting the steering wheel, landing in between the driver's door and seat.
Brushing glass from his eyes, Mr Olsen pulled over and rang police.
The officer who attended told Mr Olsen in 15 years he had never seen such a close call.
"Probably two or three inches to the left and it would have cleaned me out," Mr Olsen said.
"How could someone even think about doing something this stupid. I'm a father to a two-year-old and I've got a child due in five weeks."
Mr Olsen's partner, Terry Nicol, had yesterday begun her maternity leave and the couple were at home today with their daughter Paige after Mr Olsen called in to tell his work he would be taking the day off.
Police had taken the empty Jim Beam bottle away for fingerprinting. It was the only piece of evidence they had because Mr Olsen couldn't see anything else in the dark.
"All I saw was headlights, I've got no description of the car I don't even know what colour it was."
Mr Olsen's shoulder was a bit sore but mainly he was thankful to be alive. If he could ask the person who threw the bottle anything, he said it would be why they did it.
"Why are you that stupid, that's all I've got for them. What reason do you have to do that other than pure stupidity."
Hawke's Bay police described the actions of whoever threw the bottle as "reckless in the extreme" and said if the person responsible was found they were likely to face charges.
