PIRU : Woman in Car Hit, Killed by Flying Rock

In a freak accident that left even emergency crews shaken, a father driving to Las Vegas for a family reunion watched in horror as a football-sized rock smashed through his windshield Friday morning near Piru and fatally injured his daughter, authorities said.

Cynthia Ann Johnson, 32, who was to celebrate her birthday Monday, died after being struck in the head by the small boulder that apparently had been kicked up by another vehicle about 10:07 a.m. east of Fillmore, authorities said.

The Santa Barbara woman, the mother of 1-year-old and 3-year-old boys, was pronounced dead two hours later at Ventura County Medical Center, Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens said.

At the hospital were her father, 60-year-old Ronald Fraas of Santa Barbara, and her husband, Mark Johnson, who had planned to take his children to Las Vegas later Friday to meet his wife, Stevens said.

“It was as bad as it gets,” said county Fire Capt. Mike Lindbery, who rode in the ambulance with the victim and her father.

The rock--about 6 inches by 7 inches by 4 inches--was found beside an orange tree, about 15 feet from the stretch of two-lane California 126 that cuts through orchards by Hopper Canyon Road.

Fraas, who was driving a rented car, had seen what he thought was a pine cone bounding on the road when it suddenly crashed through his windshield, struck his daughter and broke through the back window, authorities said.

Because of rubber marks on the rock, Sgt. Mike Cooper of the California Highway Patrol speculated that it had been wedged between the tires of a truck or bus and had suddenly worked free. But neither Fraas nor any other witness could recall where the rock had come from, Cooper said.