Police arrest suspect for throwing rocks from freeway onramp

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (FOX 11) - It's not an exaggeration to say that Andrew Coleman is lucky to be alive. He was minding his own business Wednesday afternoon merging onto the 170 freeway southbound at Sherman Way in North Hollywood, his 2-year-old goddaughter strapped into a car seat when all of a sudden he heard two loud bangs.

"I thought we were being shot at".

Fortunately, he wasn't. Instead, he was the target of a rock-throwing man, believed to be a transient camped out alongside the freeway on-ramp.

Two rocks hit Andrews car, another hit a woman driving behind him. They got a look at the suspect, as this was daylight, called 911 and both the CHP and LAPD responded. They took a report, a description, and later that night made an arrest.

Andrew, who of course was so frightened that he's thankful he didn't swerve and crash, was impressed as he thought this would go nowhere. The larger issue, of course, is the ongoing problem with what to do about the numerous homeless encampments and the potentially dangerous people in them.

As one CHP officer FOX 11's Phil Shuman spoke with put it, this is ''an absence of thought".