Help find person who hit fire truck

In the never-ending search for the lowest form of life on the planet, there's no need to send deep-ocean craft into the Mariana Trench.

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Instead, look no further than the person who lobbed an ice-filled cup into a fire truck's windshield Friday night, injuring a firefighter who was en route - ironically - to a medical emergency.

Second-generation Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue firefighter Gary Thigpen was riding in the passenger seat of a fire truck shortly before 10 p.m. Friday along Evans-to-Locks Road, en route to a medical call at the Quebecor World printing plant. Someone in a car pulling out of Blue Ridge Drive tossed the cup into the truck's windshield, shattering the glass and sending shards into Thigpen's eyes.

The driver, fortunately, was wearing glasses. "That probably saved his eyes," says Chief Doug Cooper, who added that the firefighters were able to continue to the call and get treatment for Thigpen, too.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to get much of a description of the human debris who threw the cup. So the department is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to his or her arrest and conviction.

Spread the word. Someone saw what happened, and they need to report it. The person who threw that cup needs a trip to jail, and one phone call could send him there - and put a cool grand in the pocket of the person who drops a dime. The number to report information to the sheriff's office is (706) 541-2800.

Here's hoping for a quick arrest - and for Thigpen's complete recovery.