By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sixteen-year-old Chuck Hoffman Jr. was driving the family van to a hardware store last week when a 10-pound rock thrown from a nearby creek bed smashed through his windshield, slammed into his head and left him fighting for his life.

Chuck turned his head just a bit - as if he saw the rock coming - before it crashed through the windshield Tuesday night on Springdale Road and struck his left cheek.

The impact crushed the Colerain Township teen's cheekbone, broke his chinbone and fractured his lower skull, his relatives recalled Sunday.

"We just want the word out there, these random acts of violence have got to stop," his mother, Ramona Hoffman, 42, said as the family huddled in a waiting room at University Hospital. "You just can't be hurting people like this."

Police said the rock was tossed by a 19-year-old Colerain man.

Chuck, a lifelong Boy Scout and chief petty officer in the Navy Junior ROTC program, lay in critical condition Sunday with a severe head injury and swelling to the brain. He is on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma to reduce the pressure on his brain.

The Northwest High School junior has shown small signs of progress. A twitch of the eye, a lift of the arm, a slight movement of his left thumb. But he has a long road to recovery ahead.

"We keep getting signs of hope," said his father, Charles Hoffman Sr., 43. "As long as we have those, we'll take them and go on."

Mark Holtman was charged Friday with felonious assault. He was held Sunday at the Hamilton County Justice Center on $25,000 bond.

Police say he confessed to throwing the football-size rock from a creek bed in the 3200 block of Springdale Road.

The force of the blow instantly knocked Chuck out, his family said. His 14-year-old sister, Amy, who was in the passenger seat of the Econoline van, grabbed the wheel and managed to steer the vehicle along the road, yelling for help. Her younger brother, Larry, 12, unbuckled his safety belt and scrambled into the front seat to remove Chuck's foot from the gas pedal.

Together, the children gained control of the van until they could crash it into a vacant building to stop it. The siblings suffered no injuries.

"There was an angel on everybody's shoulder," Mrs. Hoffman said. "They didn't hit any cars or pedestrians. There wasn't a scratch on any of them. Chuck's only injuries were from the rock."

A motive in the attack wasn't known Sunday but the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office classifies the incident as a "serious injury accident."

The Hoffmans say they can't begin to understand why Mr. Holtman, who attended school with their oldest daughter, Donna, 20, would harm Chuck. The two did not know each other, they said.

But on Sunday, the Hoffmans focused on their son, who has a 3.8 grade point average, is overcoming dyslexia and has dreamed of being a fighter pilot since taking a Naval aviation course. They say they hope the attack won't rob him of his aspirations.

"Even if he can't be a fighter pilot, he still can be in the Navy," Mrs. Hoffman said. "We have always promoted patriotism. Chucky wants everybody to be happy. He wants to please everybody."

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.