'I don't want to die like that!' Driver says runaway spool sideswiped her car on I-10

Courtney Fischer Image
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Giant runaway spool sideswipes driver on I-10Giant runaway spool sideswipes driver on I-10
Giant runaway spool sideswipes driver on I-10

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Not all of the people who drove past a large spool seen rolling down the East Freeway on Thursday were able to dodge it.

Marie Cervantez was cruising on the freeway in her Volkswagen Beetle right before the spool of fiber optic cable broke loose.

The dash cam on Cervantez's car shows a flatbed with two spools on her right, but as she passes it, you faintly hear the spool snap off.

Cervantez says she heard a loud crash and realized it hit a bridge, sending one spool into traffic.

That's the part of this story that many Houstonians will probably recognize since the spool tumbled down I-10 near Wayside during the lunchtime rush.

Houston drivers dodge giant industrial spool on freeway.

What you may not know is that a car was hit, and it belongs to Cervantez.

She pulled over to check her bug, that she lovingly calls Bocho. It wasn't until she looked at it that she realized the spool hit her back bumper.

"Luckily, nobody got hit from that. Everybody stopped. But I kept going! Because I didn't know it hit me, until I noticed it," Cervantez explained.

"I'm not afraid to die, but I don't want to die like that!" Driver's encounter with runaway spool

Courtney Fischer talked to the woman whose car was hit when the spool snapped loose from the flatbed truck.

She says she's glad no one was hurt, but she did notice something else on the freeway that bothered her.

"I noticed on the freeway that a lot of people are texting. It's not good. Because this can happen and they're not going to be aware, you know. So they better quit texting," Cervantez said.

Cervantez says she's putting a dash cam in the back of her car now, too.

Rocks, debris and metal: When Houston drivers have to dodge flying hazards on the road

A woman says she feels blessed after dodging a piece of flying metal that pierced her windshield.

The Houston Police Department told Eyewitness News that they could not release the name of the trucking company, but the driver responsible would receive two tickets.

The driver was given a ticket for a duty log violation, because there was a problem with the driver's log book, and he also received a violation of height permit ticket. Police said the driver did not know the height of the truck.

The truck has been pulled out of circulation while investigators figure out the role of the trucking company.

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