Flying tire slams into car, causing fatal accident, cops say

A runaway wheel slammed into a woman’s windshield on an Indiana highway, causing a fatal accident, police said.

The rear wheel broke free from a pickup truck traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 in Marion County on Sept. 11, according to a state police news release.

It then bounced over the dividing wall and smashed into the windshield of a westbound car, police said.

The car, a four-door sedan, swerved off the road and plunged into a “steep” ditch, police said. It then crashed through a fence and came to a stop on its side near a house.

Troopers arrived at the scene and found the vehicle “severely damaged” with a female driver unresponsive inside, according to the release.

Paramedics rendered medical aid to the driver, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. She has not been identified.

Photos released by police show the crumpled car embedded with tree branches.

Troopers later located the pickup truck that lost its wheel. It had been towing a trailer.

The incident remains under investigation, police said.

A representative for the Indiana State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

Marion County encompasses Indianapolis.