Boulder smashes through windshield on NorCal highway

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. -- A motorist is lucky to be alive after a boulder came crashing through his windshield as he drove down a highway Monday, reports CBS San Francisco station KPIX-TV.

He was travelling on the Cazadero Highway west of Guerneville when the big rock smashed into his windshield and grazed the driver's shoulder.

Luckily for the driver, it hit the passenger side and no one else was in the car.

"He came around a turn and the rock came off of the hill up above, about 40 feet up, went through the passenger side wide and hit him in the shoulder," said Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman. "And that caused him to lose control and go off the road."

The call initially came in as a car crashing into a tree, but authorities soon figured out the driver was stunned by the impact of the boulder.

The driver was shaken up but not seriously hurt, but the car wound up a mangled mess.

Crews actually found him sitting next to the car when they arrived. The vehicle was taken away by a flatbed tow truck.