Mount Vernon Man Arrested In Rock Throwing Incident

Police have arrested a 33-year-old Mount Vernon man after a rock the size of a softball was thrown from an Interstate 5 overpass and struck a car Thursday night.

The car was going southbound on I-5 near the Blackburn Road overpass in Mount Vernon when the rock hit the car's hood, police said.

The driver pulled off the road and saw someone run toward a wooded area near Hillcrest Park, police said. Police, sheriff's deputies and state troopers surrounded the area and called in a K-9 team, which found a suspect in the woods.

Investigators found a stack of rocks hidden in some blackberry bushes and about 20 more softball-sized rocks near the southbound shoulder of I-5, police said.

The 33-year-old man was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree assault and third-degree malicious mischief.

Police asked anyone who may have been struck by a falling rock or saw something suspicious in the area to call the Mount Vernon Police Department at 360-336-6271.