A wild crash on a California freeway was captured on video last week, showing a car flipping through the air after it struck a tire that had come off a pickup truck. The accident happened Thursday on the Ronald Reagan Freeway in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. Anoop Khatra was driving behind a dark-colored Kia Soul when her dashcam recorded the moment.
The video showed a white pickup truck driving in the lane adjacent to the Kia when the pickup’s front-left tire suddenly popped loose and shot out in front of the Kia. The Kia then struck the tire and was launched several feet off the roadway and flipped in the air before landing on its roof and rolling several times. The car eventually landed right-side-up as the stray tire continued to roll and strike the rear of the vehicle. Meanwhile, the pickup truck rolled across the freeway to the right shoulder and appeared to come to a stop.
Khatra said that despite some negative comments regarding the truck driver, he was very apologetic and stopped to check on the other driver right away.
“Been seeing a lot of comments about the truck fleeing but the pickup driver definitely stopped, and even came back running across the free way to check on the Kia driver, they were very sincere and apologetic about everything,” he said on Twitter.
Khatra told Storyful that the driver was the only occupant of the Kia and appeared to walk away without significant injuries. The Los Angeles Police Department said there were no major injuries following the incident. The California Highway Patrol told KABC-TV that the Kia driver suffered minor injuries. The agency said the pickup truck’s tire came loose due to what appeared to be sheared-off lug nuts.
Witnessed and recorded the most INSANE car crash yesterday, you can see Autopilot also swerve and avoid the rouge tire for me $TSLA pic.twitter.com/csMh2nbRNX
— Anoop (@Anoop_Khatra) March 25, 2023