Woman injured after loose semi truck tires send her car airborne outside of I-80 truck stop

A woman was hospitalized after a set of semi truck tires came loose and crashed into her vehicle in Iowa late last week. 

The accident happened on Friday, February 7th on Interstate 80 near the I-80 Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa. 

According to KWQC, Sarah Pender was heading west on I-80 when semi truck tires came off of a tractor trailer traveling ahead of her and crashed into her vehicle. The force of the impact sent her car flying airborne and caused it to roll multiple times before it came to a stop upside down. 

The truck driver did not stop, and the Iowa State Patrol is investigating the incident as a hit and run. Pender suffered multiple broken ribs and leg injuries as a result of the crash, but has already been released from the hospital to recover at home. Her car was totaled in the accident. 

“I walked into the hospital room and the first thing Sarah said was, Jen, the tire came off, the tire came off,” Pender’s sister, Jennifer Ziemer, said. “The wheel came off and came right at me. And at that point, I started thinking where, who, what, when, how, and that was when we kind of started investigating where is this semi, where is this truck driver?”

“We’re in an era of dash cam footage and video,” Ziemer said. “So, if there’s anybody that was traveling westbound on I-80 between 7:25 and 8 a.m. on Friday and you know have footage of the accident or if they were in a parking lot and noticed a trailer with a missing wheel or if they are a servicer of semis and they assisted a trailer with a missing wheel, to please contact KWQC or the Iowa State [Patrol] to see if we can help find this person.”