An 18-year-old university student was murdered early Sunday when a tire from a passing truck shattered her windshield on a Kentucky freeway.
Lauren Collins was driving south on Interstate 75 near the Ohio border shortly after midnight when a tire detached from a truck on the northern side of the highway, according to a statement from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.
The errant tire bounced across the concrete median before colliding with Collins’ 2012 Buick LaCrosse’s windshield.
According to authorities, emergency responders from the Walton Fire Department responded and “extricated” her from the wreckage of her car.
Collins was taken “with life-threatening injuries” to the neighboring University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where she died a short time later.
Collins was the only one in the automobile, according to police.
According to authorities, the truck and its driver have yet to be recognized.
They believe it was a twin pickup truck with four tires running along the back axle.
Collins, a student at the University of Kentucky, was from Independence, Kentucky.
According to her obituary, she had just completed her first year as a fashion merchandising major after graduating from high school in May 2022.
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.”
