Brendan Quirk was driving back to Durango from Denver when a loose tire came bounding down U.S. Highway 160 in the dark.
The “ghost tire,” as Quirk later called it, struck his Toyota Tacoma on Monday, totaling the pickup. Quirk, of Durango, was not injured.
“I’m super grateful to be alive,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Quirk said the tire was bouncing at windshield height, and if it had hit his pickup at the top of a bounce, it could have killed him.
Quirk, 28, carried only liability insurance, so he is out a truck unless the hauler of the tire steps forward or police find whomever is responsible. Quirk said he still owes $5,250 on his auto loan.
“I am not a person of much means, so this is a lot of money for me,” he said.
The Colorado State Patrol is asking for the public’s help in locating the driver of the vehicle that lost the tire.
The tire and rim, likely a spare, came loose somewhere near milepost 97 on U.S. Highway 160, just east of Lon’s Automotive between Bayfield and Durango, said Chris Balenti, a trooper with Colorado State Patrol.
Quirk said the accident happened around 5:40 p.m.
The tire may have dislodged from the back of an eastbound pickup or a trailer and rolled into the opposing lane, striking Quirk’s pickup, Balenti said.
If the tire simply came loose and there was no foul play, the driver of the vehicle that lost the tire could be cited with losing a load on the highway, which is about a $50 fine, Balenti said.
More than anything, the State Patrol wants insurance information from the person responsible, he said.
Loose tires have been involved in other highway incidents involving Durango residents.
A Durango man was killed in March 2009 when a spare tire came loose from a trailer and smashed into the windshield of an oncoming vehicle on U.S. Highway 550, halfway between Aztec and the Colorado-New Mexico line.
Durango resident Phil Bryson was driving a BMW sport utility vehicle northbound when a tire jumped a concrete lane divider and struck his passenger, Ron Newton, 44, who was killed.
Bryson was uninjured.
Anyone with information about the incident that occurred Monday on Highway 160 is asked to call the State Patrol office in Durango at 385-1675 or dispatch at 249-4392.
shane@durangoherald.com
