Photo: Facebook / Omar Padrino
This could be funny, were it not for the inherent potential for tragedy: what appears to be a heavy-duty tire went rolling down the highway in New Jersey and then smashed into one of the cars coming from the opposite direction.
The incident was actually captured on video by one motorist, and the clip has since gone viral. You will also find it at the bottom of the page. Omar Padrino posted it to Facebook without comment, just a shocked face emoji.
The footage doesn’t show the moment when the tire came loose or, for that matter, offer any indication as to how this was possible. It does, however, show the full impact between it and an incoming Jeep Wrangler, after the tire changed direction, bounced over the median and ended up in the opposite lane. To say that the impact was brutal is almost an understatement.
NBC News says the Jeep took significant damage, but the good news is that no one was seriously hurt. And the tire was stopped in its path of destruction.
The Jeep was being driven by an off-duty police officer from Piscataway, New Jersey, John Rice. He tells the media that he saw it coming but wasn’t thinking of his personal safety. Instead, he kept praying it wouldn’t hit the car in front of him, which carried his wife and his 3 children.
“Initially I thought please don't hit my wife, my wife's in the car in front of me, three kids in the car and that was going through my head, please don't hit her,” Rice is quoted as saying.
The report doesn’t say whether or how badly Rice was hurt. The police are investigating the incident, trying to determine who is responsible for the loose tire and what they could have done to prevent this from happening.
The footage doesn’t show the moment when the tire came loose or, for that matter, offer any indication as to how this was possible. It does, however, show the full impact between it and an incoming Jeep Wrangler, after the tire changed direction, bounced over the median and ended up in the opposite lane. To say that the impact was brutal is almost an understatement.
NBC News says the Jeep took significant damage, but the good news is that no one was seriously hurt. And the tire was stopped in its path of destruction.
The Jeep was being driven by an off-duty police officer from Piscataway, New Jersey, John Rice. He tells the media that he saw it coming but wasn’t thinking of his personal safety. Instead, he kept praying it wouldn’t hit the car in front of him, which carried his wife and his 3 children.
“Initially I thought please don't hit my wife, my wife's in the car in front of me, three kids in the car and that was going through my head, please don't hit her,” Rice is quoted as saying.
The report doesn’t say whether or how badly Rice was hurt. The police are investigating the incident, trying to determine who is responsible for the loose tire and what they could have done to prevent this from happening.
WATCH: Runaway tire jumps N.J. highway median, smashes into Jeep driven by a cop https://t.co/bjPH5zxGFu pic.twitter.com/5jRQl5hTec
— NJ.com (@njdotcom) July 26, 2019
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