A family driving home on Highway 99 in Elk Grove got the scare of their lives when a large metal bolt crashed through their minivan windshield, coming within inches of their 12-year-old daughter’s face.
Gulnaz Siddiqui was behind the wheel with her three children when she suddenly heard a loud boom. The bolt had pierced the passenger-side windshield — right where her daughter Aisha was sitting.
“I was driving, and all of a sudden heard a boom sound,” Siddiqui said.
Glass Everywhere, Inches From Her Face
The impact shattered the windshield and sent glass fragments flying across the front seat. The bolt lodged into the glass just inches from Aisha’s face. It was her first time ever riding in the front seat.
“I didn’t really know what happened for a few seconds,” Aisha said. “This just came, and I felt like something exploded in the car.”
Siddiqui immediately looked over to check on her daughter.
“I looked at her and I was like, OK, she’s not injured. There’s no bleeding, nothing,” she said. “Then there was all this glass on her and in her shoes too.”
Family Still Shaken
With no safe place to pull over immediately, Siddiqui kept driving while Aisha sat with her eyes closed. The family says they are grateful no one was seriously hurt, but the trauma lingers.
“These things you can never expect. It can happen to anyone,” said Mohammed Kazi, Aisha’s father. “Luckily, no one was that badly injured. They have a shock, a trauma.”
What the Family Wants Now
The exact location of the incident — somewhere between 12th Street and 47th Avenue — remains unclear. Siddiqui believes the bolt may have been kicked up by a vehicle ahead of her on the road.
The family is urging anyone who witnessed the incident or has dash camera footage from Highway 99 to come forward.
“Just watch out. Be safe on 99, of course, because there’s a lot of construction going around,” Siddiqui said.
Aisha says she now plans to wear her eyeglasses every time she rides in a car.
