Melanie Birge is rattled.

The Independence Inc. transportation provider was driving a disabled client to the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Hospital on Thursday morning, when she said the company van they were in was pummeled by a landscaping stone that weighed between 50 and 100 pounds.

“It was very scary,” Birge said Friday. “It just came right at me out of nowhere.”

Five or six of the heavy stones fell off a flatbed truck traveling west down a hill on the Old Farmer’s Turnpike, North 1800 Road, near East 900th Road, Birge said. She said one of the stones hit her westbound 2005 Dodge Caravan and punctured a tire on a car traveling behind her. No one was injured.

Birge said the incident caused the Independence Inc. van, which received damage to the driver’s side hood area, to die.

“I’m very thankful that it hit where it did,” Birge said. “If it was just a little higher : it could’ve severed me.”

She said the truck, which didn’t stop, was a mid-to-early 80s two-toned dark blue Ford.

Douglas County sheriff’s deputies took a report on the incident and searched the area for the truck, but couldn’t find it, said spokesman Lt. Doug Woods. Unless new information surfaces, Woods said the investigation in the case is “pretty much done.”

The accident was the second in three weeks for Independence Inc., a nonprofit independent living center that provides services – including advocacy, information and referral, daily living skills training, computer training, transportation, employment services and assistive technology – for people with disabilities. Another company van was involved in a June 24 crash near 23rd and Iowa streets.

“We’re pretty frustrated,” said Tonya Dorf Brunner, executive director.

The company has backup vans, but she said they’re older and more costly to drive and maintain.

The company receives funding from the county, state and federal governments, but it also accepts donations. Dorf Brunner said those wishing to help defray the cost of the insurance deductible or the extra cost of gas necessary to drive the older backup vans, may send donations to the agency, 2001 Haskell Ave., Lawrence 66046.