Auto Glass Tech Hailed as Hero

When an auto glass installer from Triumph Glass went to the home of Jeffery Rolle in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to replace the glass in a 2001 Oldsmobile Alera, he knew something was amiss. It turns out Rolle is the suspect in a deadly hit-and-run accident that occurred on May 30, according to reports from KETV Omaha. He told Triumph his windshield was damaged when he struck a deer.

According to Todd Wills, manager of the shop, the oddities began when the work was first called in early that morning.
"He tried to call really early in the morning, like 7 o'clock, and he reached our call center," Wills told glassBytes.com™/AGRR magazine, "and then I got a fax. Before I could call him back, he was calling the shop asking when our installer was going to be there."

Wills didn't go to the scene, but said the installer, whose name he could not release, replaced the windshield, and noticed that as soon as the work was done, Rolle moved the vehicle into his garage. "That's kind of strange," Wills said.

When the installer returned to the shop, both he and Wills looked at the windshield and noticed it didn't appear a deer had caused the damage. "From our installers' experience, usually you have fur or fragments of skin stuck on the windshield, the moulding or somewhere on the car and there was none of that," he said.

Wills said Rolle told the installer that he'd taken the vehicle through a carwash at 2 a.m. after he had struck the deer. The two weren't sure what further to make of the peculiarity, though, until they heard on the radio the next day that the hit-and-run had occurred. "Nothing really clicked until the following day, when we heard the news announcement that the police were looking for a dark vehicle with the glass broken out," Wills said.

They had already discarded the windshield from the vehicle the day before, but still called police to provide the information they had available. "We just did the right thing," Wills said. "We put two and two together and I made the call to the police … I said 'It may help you. It may not.'"

The Council Bluffs Police followed up on the tip and located the vehicle, which they told KETV matches many of the industries of the deceased victim, Robert Fry, 22. Fry was struck while walking along a bridge in Council Bluffs. According to KETV, Rolle has admitted to the incident and has said he'll likely turn himself in later this week.

CLICK HERE to read the KETV news story.