‘Sounded like a bomb’: Tires come off 18-wheeler, smash through 91-year-old’s GA home
A 91-year-old woman was inside the home she’s lived in for decades when a set of loose tires came barreling through, Georgia news outlets reported.
“It sounded like a bomb, and I just happened to look up and everything was just flying out the closet,” Della Ogletree told WRBL.
Photos and video from news outlets show the incident left debris piled on the floor and on top of at least one bed on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
Police in LaGrange, roughly 65 miles southwest of Atlanta, reported being called to a home at about 4 p.m. While on the scene, officials discovered that two tires had come off an 18-wheeler and tore into the side of the house before coming to rest.
“This is a freak accident,” Sgt. Christopher Pritchett told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “It just happens. There’s really no indication as to how it happens. Some things just wear out on a trailer, they miss it during pre-inspection and they just roll off.”
Pritchett spoke to people in the trucking industry and said police don’t know what caused the tires to come off in this case. No one was injured, and the truck hadn’t been found as of Sept. 5.
“Another thing that I learned through talking to these truck drivers is that if a tandem set of tires like this one did come off, it’s highly unlikely the driver even knew it until he was several hundred miles down the road,” Pritchett said.
Meanwhile, the 91-year-old homeowner told news outlets she was grateful to be OK after the ordeal, which she said left her home a “mess.” The tires plowed through two bedrooms, destroying furniture in their path, according to WAGA.
“It’s heartbreaking, but there isn’t anything I can do about it,” Ogletree told the TV station.
This story was originally published September 5, 2022 at 12:24 PM with the headline "‘Sounded like a bomb’: Tires come off 18-wheeler, smash through 91-year-old’s GA home."
