Two police officers in Central Pennsylvania narrowly avoided injury Monday when a runaway tire slammed into the windshield of their patrol car.
The incident was captured on the cruiser's dash camera, which shows the tire bouncing quickly down a busy road before striking a curb, catching air and bumping off the car's hood into the windshield.
After hitting the patrol car, the tire bounced onto the other side of the road without hitting any other vehicles.
The two officers were uninjured, but their vehicle suffered serious damage, Spring Township Police Chief Adam Salyards told the Centre Daily Times. He was not sure how much repairs would cost.
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The driver of the pickup truck was not issued a citation because the incident was a "freak accident," Salyards said.
One of the officer's body camera caught another angle of the incident.
This is an inside view of the cruiser as the tire smashes into the windshield. Notice the glass shards that encapsulate the interior of the vehicle. We are very grateful both officers were okay!
Posted by Spring Township Police Department on Tuesday, February 15, 2022
The officers, who were inside the vehicle when the incident happened, were monitoring traffic from a median on the 1300 block of Zion Road near Bellefonte, Centre County when the rear, driver-side wheel of a pickup truck became detached as it was driving westbound.
Incidents like this are rare, but it was not the first time a tire has spontaneously popped off a vehicle on a Pennsylvania roadway.
Back in 2012, a tire came off a tractor trailer driving along I-76 in South Philadelphia. It hit a Honda Accord before it was launched across Vare Avenue. It ultimately crashed through the roof of the Philadelphia Housing Authority's Workforce Development Center, which had to be evacuated.
The driver of the Accord was taken to the hospital, but the truck driver didn't realize he had lost a tire until he arrived at his destination in New Jersey. After he realized he was missing one and heard news reports about a runaway tire in Philadelphia he made contact with the Pennsylvania State Police.