The Bushrod Park Impact, Oakland, California, April 2006

Published 2011 June 23

Closest I’ve ever been to being hit by a meteorite:

The fast-moving projectile slammed into a field near the sidewalk between 59th and 60th streets shortly before 10 a.m., sending a spray of dirt, grass and chunks of ice several feet into the air, witnesses said.

Some residents said they were lucky the object crashed into an empty field and not onto the nearby Don Budge tennis courts or the row of houses and small businesses across the street.

“It was totally amazing,” said Jacek Purat of Berkeley, who was waiting on Shattuck to show apartments in a building he owns to prospective renters.

“I saw this flash, like a streak. Then I saw this explosion, like a big boom! I came over and it (the field) was all covered with ice. Some were this big,” Purat said, making a head-size circle with his two hands.