College student dead after loose truck tire smashes through windshield on highway

An 18-year-old university student was killed when a tire broke loose from a passing truck and crashed through her windshield on a Kentucky interstate early Sunday morning.

Lauren Collins was driving south down Interstate 75 near the Ohio border just after midnight when the tire detached from a truck on the northbound side of the highway, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The runaway tire bounced over the concrete median, then collided with the windshield of Collins’ 2012 Buick LaCrosse.

Emergency responders from the Walton Fire Department arrived at the scene and “extricated” her from the wreck of her car, police said.

Collins was transported to the nearby University of Cincinnati Medical Center “with life-threatening injuries,” where she later died.

Police said Collins was the only occupant of the car.

The truck and its driver have still not been identified, according to police.

They suspect it was a dual pickup truck with four tires along the rear axle.

Collins, a University of Kentucky student, was from Independence, Kentucky.

She had just finished her first year as a fashion merchandising major after graduating from high school in May 2022, according to her obituary.

She was remembered as a “free spirit” and a “jokester” with impeccable style who loved to dance.

“I am blessed to of [sic] known you Lauren Collins and most grateful to have our families come together,” her cousin wrote on Facebook.

“I will treasure our times together and mostly our private ones. Fly high you beautiful soul, heaven is definitely gaining a precious angel today.”