HollyMatkinHonolulu, HI – Someone threw a rock-hard breadfruit through the window of a tour bus in Hawaii, and smashed the face of a tourist from Utah.
Valerie Zaugg and her husband had just left the Polynesian Cultural Center, and were wrapping up their first full day of vacation on Oahu, on the night of Dec. 22 when the incident occurred, KFVE reported.
The couple climbed onto the tour bus, and Zaugg said she ended up switching seats with a family who had young children, KSTU reported.
As the bus traveled along Kamehameha Highway in Kaaawa, Zaugg noticed something strange outside her window.
“I saw somebody on the mountain side of the road and they threw something at the bus,” she told KHON.
The object shattered the window, bounced off of a seat, and slammed into Zaugg’s face, KFVE reported.
“Nobody knew what it was,” she said. “My husband thought it was a gunshot, because it was dark. I remember getting up and I could feel the blood rushing down my face and I’m just screaming ‘Pull over! Pull over!'”
The driver stopped the bus and jumped off to look for the assailant, but was unsuccessful.
“Come to find out, it was a breadfruit,” Zaugg told KSTU. “A rock-hard breadfruit about the size of a softball.”
Police and emergency medical personnel were called to the scene to treat Zaugg, who had shards of window glass in her eye, as well as cuts and bruises to her face, KFVE reported.
“I felt fortunate to be alive. I felt fortunate I had my eyesight in both my eyes. You know, it could have been really bad,” she said.
A home security camera captured three males as they ran away from the area, but police said no arrests have been made, KFVE reported.
“I’m hoping that somebody will say something regarding the people who did this, maybe the kids who did this, so they can be held accountable,” Zaugg told KHON. “Because if not, it’s just going happen again.”
According to Wikipedia: Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) originating in the South Pacific and eventually spreading to the rest of Oceania. British and French navigators introduced a few Polynesian seedless varieties to Caribbean islands during the late 18th century, and today it is grown in some 90 countries throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa. Its name is derived from the texture of the moderately ripe fruit when cooked, similar to freshly baked bread and having a potato-like flavor.