A 19-year-old from Suwanee is facing three felony charges for throwing a water balloon at a moving car and cracking the windshield, according to Suwanee police.
The incident comes after four Meadowcreek High School students were arrested and charged with throwing a bleach-filled balloon at a 14-year-old middle school student on May 26, the last day of school.
Jerrod Reque and three females were throwing water balloons at each other at the Lansfaire subdivision last Tuesday, when the group decided to throw them at people they knew, according to the police report obtained by the AJC. When the group didn't see anyone they recognized, they decided to drive along Moore Road and throw water balloons at passing cars.
That was when Reque threw an orange water balloon, hitting a car traveling near the Rivermore subdivision, police said. The victim, whose name was not released, caught up with the foursome at Lansfaire and asked who threw the balloon. When the females pointed at Reque, who was running away from the scene, the victim called the police.
Reque, a North Gwinnett High School graduate, was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail and was charged with two counts of terroristic acts and criminal damage -- both felonies -- two counts of reckless conduct and counts of trespassing and obstruction. The females received misdemeanor charges for reckless conduct.
"They weren't doing anything malicious," Reque's father, who asked not to be named, told the Gwinnett Daily Post on Monday. "Kids have been throwing water balloons for years. I don't think it was the smartest thing in the world for him to do, but he knows that it wasn't right."
Reque told the AJC on Tuesday that he was puzzled by the thought of a windshield being cracked by a water balloon, but he and his friends offered to pay for the damages anyway.
"I'm no physicist, but I don't see how a little water balloon can crack a windshield," Reque wrote in a Facebook message to the AJC. "I understand the fact that I did break the law, I am going to take responsibility for my actions ... but come on, it's a water balloon."
Clyde Byers, captain of the Suwanee Police Department, said the charges were a result of Reque throwing an object at a moving vehicle.
"He was charged with this because of these circumstances," Byers told the AJC on Tuesday. "If you throw something and it hits passengers, it has terroristic threats."
Under Georgia law, anyone who "shoots or throws an object at a conveyance which is being operated or which is occupied by passengers" commits a terroristic act. Byers said the females involved in the incident possibly received lesser charges due to their participation and their cooperation in the case.
When asked about the May 26 incident, which resulted in felony aggravated battery for the four Meadowcreek high schoolers, Byers said the charges may be different because the person involved wasn't in a moving vehicle. In that incident, 14-year-old Miguel Mesa was temporarily blinded and suffered severe injuries to his face when he was hit by the bleach balloon as he walked home from school.
Reque was released on a $16,800 bond Wednesday. A court date has not been set.
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