NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A woman on the way to see her grandchildren said she was hit in the face and robbed after she pulled over due to a rock hitting her car. Now, Metro Nashville Police Department officers are investigating.
Deneice Spurgeon said it happened on Hobson Pike right past Percy Priest Lake around 9:40 a.m. on July 12.
"And when I turned back around to get in my car, there was a man in the passenger side of my car—his head only," Spurgeon said.
They took her purse according to her husband.
"He hit her in the face," Rick Spurgeon said. "She was so traumatized she didn’t want to look at him, because if she had, I don’t know what he would have done."
The victim said it all happened so fast. They believe someone threw it at the car intentionally, but it remains under investigation.
"I think the rock was meant to come through my windshield and it didn’t,” Spurgeon said. “It could have ended very differently, and I’m thankful that it didn’t."
The man took off into the woods and she called 911. Law enforcement confirmed the man was last seen heading toward the parking lot at the Long Hunter State Park visitors center.
"I’m a Christian. I have never thought of somebody the way I did that person that day,” Rick Spurgeon said. “I asked to be prayed for because I’ve never had those feelings."
He posted online to warn others, and it went viral.
"Just that one snippet of a Facebook post might help them if they ever face something like this," Spurgeon said.
She is scared to drive alone now.
"We drive every day, and I’ve never had anything happen," Spurgeon said. "But what I can take away from this is that it only takes seconds for something like this to happen."
Eventually, a woman out walking found her purse according to a MNPD spokesperson. It was returned with everything inside it.
"I hope that maybe, somehow, they felt remorse,” Spurgeon said.
If you know the robber who hit her in the face, call MNPD. The violent crimes unit is investigating.
