35 Miles
MANTECA, California-
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area or the Sacramento area you’ve likely already heard about this one. But if not, stay tuned for a little fast-paced action. It was about 12:30 one Saturday morning when 36-year-old Christopher Michael Carroll of Manteca, California got into an argument with his wife. Carroll stormed out of their house and got into the family minivan, then proceeded to drive 35 miles west on Interstate 580 to Pleasanton, a city in the East Bay of San Francisco.
Christopher Michael Carroll’s managed to make his ‘dead of the night’ drive to Pleasanton in record time, only because at times he was driving upwards of 100 MPH. When Carroll got to Pleasanton he dropped something off, then went straight home. The crazy part of the story is what Christopher Michael Carroll dropped off on the side of the road…….his wife…….but she wasn’t in the minivan with him. After the argument, she tried to stop him from leaving and chased him outside, where she jumped onto the hood of the minivan. She remained there throughout the 35 mile trip in near freezing conditions, sprawled across the hood and clutching onto the windshield wipers for dear life.
During the insane joyride, two other drivers noticed the potentially deadly situation and called highway patrol. The drivers trailed Christopher Michael Carroll until he landed in Pleasanton, where he finally slowed enough for his wife to roll off the hood. But instead of getting out and helping her he resumed driving and returned home to Manteca. One of the drivers following the minivan, picked her up and drove her to a hospital, where she was treated for hypothermia. Police arrested Carroll a short time later at his home in Manteca. It’s been a few months since this unfortunate situation occurred, and for her sake, I really hope divorce proceedings have already started.
The moral of the story: It’s ill-advised to ever jump onto the hood of a moving vehicle, you never know how long it will be until the driver stops.
