A couple driving on the outskirts of Detroit came dangerously close to disaster when a runaway truck wheel came smashing through their car. Dan and Meredith Wronikowski had their car almost split in two by the loose wheel as it careened through their car on the highway last week.
The couple, from Clinton Township, was driving along the Eastbound I-696 highway near Hilton Road last Wednesday when the wheel from a truck ahead of them came loose, reports local news outlet Click On Detroit. The loose wheel smashed through the front of their car, obliterating the windshield and ripping the roof off the vehicle. It careered through the car and, thankfully, caused no major injuries to Dan or Meredith. The site reports:
“We saw it right by the median, bouncing right toward us in a split second,” said Meredith. “I had to make a decision. I didn’t know what to do, and I just slammed on the brakes.”
“On impact, I turned away and it went through the windshield, clipped my shoulder, knocked my head, took the roof right off,” said Dan.
“I looked at him; I’m like, OMG, are you ok? It was crazy,” Meredith said.
“I kept looking up for the visor to look at my head, and there was no roof,” Dan said.
Pictures shared by the couple in the aftermath show the car in a bad way. As well as damage to the roof and windshield, the center console has been smashed and the rear window broken. In one image, you can also see blood splattered across Dan’s arm after the wheel grazed his head.
The couple both walked away from the crash with no serious injuries, and they told reporters that they feel “lucky” the tire didn’t hit either of them. Rather worryingly though, authorities in the area still don’t know where the rogue wheel actually came from. They are asking anyone in the area who might have seen the crash to reach out with information about its origins.
Even more alarmingly, this isn’t the first time a runaway truck wheel has caused carnage on the highway. Earlier this year, a rogue truck tire sent a Kia Soul flying into the air after the two collided.