Florida Dad: Space Rocks Hit My Son

Testing suggests he's right
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 28, 2013 11:29 PM CST
Updated Nov 29, 2013 1:55 AM CST
Florida Dad: Space Rocks Hit My Son
Wayne Lippard found these tiny rocks in his driveway after his son was hurt.   (YouTube)

Did cosmic debris crash through the atmosphere from outer space to give a 7-year-old Florida boy a nasty gash on his head as he played in his driveway? Steven Lippard's dad believes it did, and initial testing on the pea-sized fragments of rock found in the driveway suggests he might be right, CBS 12 reports. Scientists at Florida State University say the rocks are metallic, which could be a sign they are meteorite fragments, but more testing needs to be done.

The father discovered the unusual rocks while trying to figure out how his son had received a sudden injury to the head. Steven needed three staples to close the gash but wasn't traumatized by the experience. "He talks about it all the time, he thinks it’s cool," his father tells Fox. "But he could've been killed. It hit cement and shattered; it grazed him." If the meteorite strike is confirmed, the boy will join just one other known victim in US history: an Alabama woman who was seriously hurt by an 8-pound space rock in 1954. (More meteorites stories.)

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