Flying Tire Crashes Through Bus Windshield on New Jersey Highway, 4 Hurt

Four people were hurt after a tire flew off a Lexus and crashed through the windshield of a Manhattan-bound commuter bus on a highway in New Jersey Monday morning, authorities said.
 
The bus was carrying 50 people along southbound Route 17 from Kingston, N.Y., to Port Authority at about 7:30 a.m. when the tire flew off the northbound Lexus, authorities said.
 
Police said a 49-year-old man sitting directly behind the bus driver had a severe head injury and was in critical condition. Two other passengers and the driver had minor injuries.

Passenger John Ditmars, who was heading to Manhattan from Accord, N.Y., said he was seated in the front row next to the badly injured passenger.
 
"The wheel was traveling really fast -- it actually smashed the window, struck the bus driver, ricocheted off the ceiling of the bus and struck four more passengers," he said.
 
Chopper 4 showed the bus pulled over near a Route 17 exit ramp in Ramsey shortly after the 8 a.m. accident. The windshield near the driver's side was shattered.

Police said the wheel came from the front driver's side of the 2009 Lexus. The woman was not expected to be charged.
 
--Jen Maxfield contributed to this story




 
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