Motorist killed after tire flies into his windshield on 60 freeway
City News Service
BEAUMONT, Calif. (KESQ) – A motorist was killed today and his passenger injured when a tire dislodged from a passing vehicle on the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway just west of Beaumont and flew into the victim’s windshield, causing him to lose control and crash.
The fatality occurred just after 11 a.m. Monday on the westbound 60 near the exit for Jack Rabbit Trail, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officer Ricardo Palomera said a 2011 BMW 328i driven by 54-year-old Philip Neil McKeehan of Riverside was traveling at an unconfirmed speed eastbound when his left rear tire “became detached and airborne.”
“The tire went over the center divider wall and onto Route 60 westbound,” Palomera said.
A 68-year-old Los Angeles man was driving his 2017 Toyota Sienna in the No. 1 westbound lane when the “BMW’s tire hit the front windshield and roof of the Toyota,” the CHP spokesman said.
The minivan slammed into the center divider then went off the freeway and plowed into an embankment, according to Palomera.
The BMW came to a stop on the freeway. No other vehicles were involved.
Riverside County Fire Department paramedics pronounced the Toyota driver, whose identity was not immediately released, dead at the scene. His passenger, identified only as a 54-year-old Santa Ana woman, suffered minor injuries and was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley for treatment.
McKeehan was not hurt.
The crash led to lane closures that were lifted by early afternoon.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the CHP San Gorgonio office at 951-846-5300.