Escondido

A 17-year-old high school student was severely injured when a rock smashed through the windshield of a car she was riding in northbound on Interstate 15 near Escondido.

Carla Clemons, 17, a San Diego resident and a student at Sweetwater High School in National City, suffered a fractured skull, cuts on her forehead, and slivers of glass in one eye in the incident, which occurred about 10 p.m. Thursday. The rock, described as the size of two bricks, was apparently thrown from the overpass at old Highway 395.

Clemons was taken to Palomar Memorial Hospital in Escondido, where she is expected to remain until early next week.

“I didn’t even know what happened until people starting screaming and blood was everywhere,” she said, adding that doctors have assured her that her eyesight will not be affected.

Clemons was in the passenger side of the front seat. The 21-year-old driver was not hurt, but a 17-year-old passenger in the back seat, Rita McCoy of Fontana, suffered cuts.

A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol said another rock-throwing incident occurred along I-15 about 20 miles north in Riverside County later Thursday night. In that incident, no one was injured. There are no suspects in either incident, the spokesman said.