Minor injury as ice chunk flies through windshield

Millie Boella and her partner were driving to Yorkdale Mall for some last-minute bargain-hunting on Boxing Day when a large chunk of ice crashed through the windshield and slammed into her chest as she sat in the passenger seat.

“It happened so quickly,” said Boella, 32, describing the moment as an explosion.

In an instant, there was glass everywhere in the car; the cold air was blowing on her face, ice collecting everywhere.

Boella was screaming, as her partner, Nicolas Piperno, 33, navigated the car to a stop.

Boella said the incident happened around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, on Allen Rd. near the Flemington Rd. overpass, minutes from Yorkdale Mall.

Boella called the police, unsure if someone threw the boulder or it fell as a frightful act of nature. She called 311 Toronto. She called insurance.

“This was reported yesterday evening,” Toronto police Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook told the Star in an email Wednesday. “(The caller) said that the incidence was reported through Toronto police’s online reporting system, which can take up to five days to be processed.”

Hours after the incident, around 9 p.m., Boella and Piperno went to the overpass to see what might have happened. There, they discovered several ice boulders near the roadside.

Boella said that her chest is sore but there are no injuries. Her partner has some minor cuts.