Wayne Tapley was struck in the head when a rock was thrown through his windshield.

LITTLETON (AP) – A trucker who was critically injured a month ago in Connecticut when struck in the forehead by a rock that was thrown through his windshield says he does not remember the crash on Interstate 95 or the six days that followed.

“The last thing I remember was getting loaded with tomatoes, closing the door of my cab and leaving the loading dock,” said Wayne Tapley, 50, who returned to his home in this northern Maine town about a week ago.

Tapley, whose scars are still plainly visible on his face, underwent six hours of surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital following the Jan. 8 incident. His sinuses had to be reconstructed, he needed surgery on his forehead, and the bones above his eyes were so severely damaged that surgeons had to put titanium plates in his forehead.

Police believe that Tapley was dazed or knocked unconscious by the rock, which caused him to lose control of his tractor-trailer in the northbound lanes of I-95 in Milford, Conn., sideswipe a bus and plunge down a steep embankment.

Connecticut State Police initially were called to the scene after several motorists reported that rocks were thrown onto the interstate.

Minutes before Tapley’s crash, someone had thrown a rock that shattered the windshield of fellow trucker Chris Foster, also of Littleton, who was just ahead of Tapley and planned to meet him at a service station.

Foster immediately called Tapley on the citizens band radio to warn him, a call that Tapley does not remember.

“By that time, a rock had hit me right between the eyes,” Tapley said. “A sniper could not have done a better job of aiming.”

It was nearly a week before Tapley realized what had happened to him. By that time, police had few leads in the case and eventually acknowledged to Tapley’s family that they might never catch the assailants.

Tapley’s wife, Nicole, said she has always been concerned that something might happen to her husband on the road. Wayne Tapley worried a bit, too, but nothing had gone wrong in his 25 years as a trucker.

He will continue to undergo therapy to correct short-term memory loss and lingering vision problems but looks forward to getting back on the road.

The family said they feel no anger toward whoever committed the crime and only hope that the person or persons responsible have learned their lesson.

For his part, Tapley says a career change is not in the cards.

“I’ve fooled around with some 9-to-5 jobs, but they just aren’t for me,” he said. “I’m a trucker.”

AP-ES-02-09-04 0918EST