'It just came like a rocket': Granddaughter springs into action after large rock smashes through windshield
A softball-sized rock smashed through the windshield of a Minto councillor’s pickup truck, sending him to hospital with severe facial injuries but he says it could have been much worse if his granddaughter didn’t spring into action.
Town of Minto councillor, Ed Podniewicz, was on the way to the hospital in Palmerston last month to have his granddaughter's hand injury checked out.
He said a transport truck travelling ahead of him swayed toward the gravel road shoulder, and without warning, a rock came barreling through the windshield of Podniewicz’s truck.
“It just came like a rocket,” Podniewicz said. “Next thing I experience, I turn to my granddaughter, and I go, ‘What the hell just happened?’”
Podniewicz put his truck in park – not knowing the severity of the situation.
When he turned to his 16-year-old granddaughter, Autumn, he was covered in blood.
Ed Podniewicz in hopsital. (Submitted/Autumn Lancaster)
Autumn Lancaster said knew she had to act fast.
She pulled him from the car, and carried him to the passenger seat. Even though she only got her G1 licence in November, she said she knew she had no choice but to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.
“Having to realize now that I have to drive with a cracked windshield, my grandpa bleeding, and then I was on the phone with 9-1-1,” Autumn Lancaster said.
The two made it to the hospital. Podniewicz said if it weren’t for his granddaughter, he wouldn’t be here.
“I owe my life, I think, to her. I just get emotional every time I think about it,” he said while stifling back tears.
Podniewicz was later transferred to a Hamilton hospital where he underwent plastic surgery. He had several metal plates installed to stabilize his jaw and straighten parts of his face.
While he still can't see out of his left eye and is waiting to find out more about the extent of the damage, it’s easy to see how much his granddaughter means to him.
“She’s my rock,” he said.
While the pair may be left with a broken windshield and a few broken bones – what remains is a bond that will never be broken.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
2 military horses that broke free and ran loose across London are in serious condition
Two military horses that bolted and ran miles through the streets of London after being spooked by construction noise and tossing their riders were in a serious condition and required operations, a British government official said Thursday.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.