Rebar shaken loose from flatbed leaves motorist with fractured skull

A motorist was injured by a piece of rebar that fell off of a flatbed trailer in Texas earlier this week. 

The incident happened on June 13th in Richardson, Texas at around 1 p.m. on U.S. Highway 75/Central Expressway. 

According to NBC DFW, Briana Reed was heading south on Central Expressway and was passing under the Bush Turnpike when she noticed a yellow flatbed tractor trailer ahead of her on the left. 

“It all happened so fast,” she said. “[A piece of rebar] hit the hood of my car and I guess bounced off of there and hit my windshield… I didn’t really hear anything. I felt it hit my head but more than anything, I felt the blood start pouring down my face.”

Reed was able to exit the highway, safely pull over and call for help. The semi truck kept on driving, likely unaware of the debris. Paramedics responded to the scene but did not take Reed to the hospital. A short time later, she began experiencing blurry vision and headaches, so she went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured skull. 

“The doctor came out and was like, ‘Well, so the CT scan didn’t show any internal damage, but you have a laceration and your skull is fractured,'” she said. “It took me a minute to process that.”

Police collected the rebar from Reed’s floorboard, but say they have no other leads, witnesses, or evidence to follow up with the truck driver.