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South Euclid Cedar Road driver deals with rock throwing incident

Posted at 4:13 PM, Feb 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-17 16:13:52-05

Yvette Burrucker of South Euclid said she was terrified, after her car was hit by a large rock, while she was driving on a busy Cedar Road, during afternoon rush hour.

Burrucker told News 5 she believes a dozen middle school students from the Cleveland Heights, University Heights school district were responsible for stopping traffic and hitting her car.

"It was extremely frightening, because it was a loud bang," said Burrucker.

"I didn't know what to do, I was in the middle of traffic."

"It bounced off my car onto my window where my granddaughter was sitting."

Burrucker said one of the students was wielding a large tree limb, as the juveniles entered the busy roadway, blocking traffic.

Burrucker said she called South Euclid Police, and also reported the incident to the Cleveland Heights, University Heights Board of Education.

The school system security director looked into the case, but without identities, the district told Burrucker there was little it could do about an incident that took place off of school property.

The school district issued the following statement in response to our story:

"As a school district, we certainly hope that our students are good citizens and act appropriately at all times.

However, we do understand that incidents may occur otherwise.  Our school staffs continually emphasize expectations for appropriate behavior, both in school and in the community.

As it pertains to school dismissals, we are able to monitor student conduct up to a point, but we cannot follow students all the way home.

We rely on our strong partnerships with the local police departments, community organizations, and families to insure our students are walking to and from school safely."

 South Euclid Police told News 5 it has effectively reduced the number of after school incidents with a strong police car presence during afternoon dismissal, and by issuing jaywalking tickets to students who illegally cross through busy streets.

South Euclid Public Information Officer Joe Di Lillo reports motorists should file police reports, even if they don't have the identities of the suspects.

"The tickets send a message to the juveniles, or the students, hey listen, the police department is out there monitoring the situation." 

"Just because an individual doesn't have an identity right off the bat, still come into the police department and report it."