All of us have bad days from time to time. Sometimes it just seems like luck is not on your side as you get hit with misfortune. However, for a little perspective, you’ll want to read this story of a bizarre incident in Kansas City in which a man seemed to have the unluckiest of days. A woman drove over her husband — twice — as he tried to get a bowling ball that was stuck under the car. To add insult to injury, a thief then tried to steal the vehicle.

Bowling ball rolled at a car in Kansas City

Last Saturday, an unnamed woman drove, with her husband in the passenger seat, on a street in Kansas City, Missouri. Suddenly, a bowling ball appeared out of nowhere and rolled down the street, as reported by The Kansas City Star. The bowling ball then struck the car and got stuck underneath it. The woman stopped the car and pulled over to the side of the road. Her husband then got out and climbed underneath the car to try to dislodge the bowling ball and pry it free. 

A thief attempts to steal a purse from the car

This is when things got even weirder. While the woman’s husband was struggling to pry the bowling ball free, an unknown male suspect approached the car. He then reached for the woman’s purse, which was on the seat next to her. During the ensuing struggle with the suspect, she accidentally pressed her foot on the gas pedal of the car. 

Woman drives over over husband two times: Forward and reverse

After pressing down on the gas pedal, the woman “heard a yell from under the car, which had rolled over her husband.” She stopped her car and put it “in reverse, rolling over her husband a second time.” While her husband yelled, the thief, startled, ran away from the car, “empty-handed without the purse.” 

The woman’s husband experienced injuries as a result of getting run over. He was “transported to the hospital in critical condition.” However, fortunately, he is now in stable condition. 

Later, a male suspect walked into a local police station in Kansas City. He confessed to rolling the bowling ball at the car. It’s not clear if this is the same suspect that attempted to steal the purse. However, it likely was a different person.

History of bowling ball antics

Let’s hope that the man that got run over makes a full recovery.

Part of the reason why this story caught my attention is because of my personal history with bowling. My grandfather, Bob Putzer, owned Recreation Lanes bowling alley in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for many years. It was later handed down to my uncle. When my grandfather first courted my grandmother, he said to her, “Let me ‘Putz’ my arms around you.”

Many years later, my brother and his friends had a college party outside their house in Madison, Wisconsin. Someone rolled a bowling ball down the street. At first, the bowling ball took a straight trajectory. However, it then careened into a curb, wildly flew up in the air, and crashed into a car. 

After many decades of operation, Recreation Lanes sadly closed. Before its closure, my uncle allowed me to take 10 bowling pins home with me. I set the bowling pins up in my driveway, rolled a bowling ball down it, scored a strike, and dedicated the strike to my grandfather, who died years earlier. It was a good way to pay respect to my grandfather.