Tragic: Texas father of five dead after tire comes off truck, bounces over freeway divider, smashes into his car's windshield, shears roof



A Texas father of five is dead after a tire came off an 18-wheeler truck Thursday afternoon, bounced over a freeway divider, and smashed into the windshield of the victim's car and sheared its roof.

What are the details?

The big rig was heading south on Interstate 45 in north Harris County when two tires on its left side came off and rolled into the main lanes near Louetta at about 1:35 p.m., Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told KTRK-TV.

One of the tires entered the service road and struck a vehicle, causing only minor damage, the station said, adding that the driver wasn't injured.

But the other tire bounced over the center wall and into the interstate's northbound lanes where it hit the windshield of another car, KTRK said, striking the driver and shearing the car's roof. The driver, 32-year-old Lee Simmons, was pronounced dead at the scene, the station said.

The big rig and the victim's car were traveling in opposite directions, and presumably the tires that came off the truck traveled forward with the truck's forward momentum.

Gonzalez said Simmons' 11-year-old child also was in the car when the tire hit it, KTRK reported, adding that the child suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

GoFundMe said Simmons is the father of five children — ages 12, 11, 9, 22 months, and 11 months, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Simmons' wife told KTRK at the scene that "it's not real right now. It's not real."

Image source: KTRK-TV video screenshot

"A tire flew off an 18 wheeler going south and jumped over the other side of the freeway and killed him," she recounted to the station. "It crashed and totaled the car. It took off the roof. It smashed the windows."

Joshua Gable told KTRK he was driving behind the truck: "I'm shaking right now, because that's just how fast life can hit you. One minute you're driving down the road, and the next minute you're gone."

Image source: KTRK-TV video screenshot

Gable said he told authorities he saw one of the tires bounce over the freeway divider, the station noted.

"It's a tough situation," Gable added to KTRK. "Somebody lost their life at the end of this. You definitely look at things differently. Like I said, it could've been me."

Anything else?

Deputies added to the station that one of the rear tandem wheels broke away from the axle, causing the wheels to separate. The driver stopped, KTRK reported, adding that no charges were announced.

Gonzalez asked that anyone who witnessed the incident to call the sheriff's office as it continues its investigation.

Biden admin halts Houston highway expansion, citing racial injustice



The Biden administration has reportedly stepped in to pause a major highway expansion in Houston, Texas, claiming that the project is racially discriminatory and harmful to the environment.

What are the details?

The state was close to breaking ground on the project — a proposed widening of certain sections of Interstate 45 that has been years in the making — when the Department of Transportation invoked the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to temporarily shut it down pending further review, Politico reported.

The department's intervention is being described as a "test case" for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who previously decried racial injustice in highway construction and vowed to make "righting these wrongs an imperative" under his leadership.

It follows complaints from local activists that the highway expansion would disproportionately harm black and Hispanic communities by displacing more than 1,000 homes, hundreds of businesses, five houses of worship, and two schools along the stretch of highway.

In light of those concerns, the Federal Highway Administration sent a letter to TxDOT in March notifying the department that it had received three complaints — one from Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee and two from local advocacy organizations — about the project's negative effects and would need time to review them.

"To allow FHWA time to evaluate the serious Title VI concerns raised in the letters referred to above, we request that TxDOT pause before initiating further contract solicitation efforts for the project, including issuance of any Requests for Proposals, until FHWA has completed its review and determined whether any further actions may be necessary to address those concerns," the letter read.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts prohibits discrimination "on the basis of race, color, or national origin" in any project that receives federal funding.

What else?

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says the project is needed to reduce congestion amid continued population growth and that its benefits outweigh the costs.

In its final environmental impact statement published last year, TxDOT acknowledged the project would displace thousands of residences and hundreds of businesses, the effects of which "would be predominantly borne by minority and low-income populations." But the department claimed that it it would sufficiently compensate for any adverse impacts.

That has not been a good enough solution for critics of the project, who include progressive Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

"How can we accept a project like that? It stays with us for a generation at least," Hidalgo told Politico in an interview, adding that the Department of Transportation's intervention was a welcome surprise.

Anything else?

At this point, it's not clear how the process will play out.

According to Politico, "Next steps could include DOT ordering Texas to redo its analysis of the project, or more drastically, fully reject it under civil rights laws."