Teens throw egg from car, badly injure runner’s eye

Runner hit in eye with egg. Screen grab from My Fox Tampa Bay.

17-year-old Noah Grant was running with other members of Tampa’s Robinson High School track team on Sunday night when a white SUV drove by and someone threw an egg at Grant.

After impact, Grant fell to his knees, clutching his face. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the egg fractured a bone and cut his right pupil, causing his eye to swell shut. According to My Fox Tampa Bay, the runner will need surgery and years of therapy due to the injury.

Grant explained to the Bradenton Herald that he knew his injury was serious after paramedics looked at him. He said, “They looked at my eye and they were washing it out and they pulled a piece of egg out of my eye about the size of my thumbnail.”

Noah currently needs pain medication and antibiotics. He needs to put drops in his eye every four hours.

Acting on a tip that some teens had purchased dozens of eggs at an area Walmart, police were able to make an arrest Monday evening. Three teens were arrested on charges of battery and were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

Police officers have been alerted to other egg throwing incidents in the area. During Sunday’s incident, the teens actually made a second pass past the runners. They lobbed a second egg that missed the group. The teens, a 17-year-old and two 16-year-olds, have admitted their involvement to police.

Of the incident, Noah’s mother, Jana Grant, told My Fox Tampa Bay, “Pathetic. They don’t care about anyone else but themselves. They think it’s funny. They deserve to be caught and punished.”

Noah remains optimistic that his vision will be regained in his injured eye. He also hopes to return to running next week.