A car seat in a sturdy car may have been the reasons a mom and her 3-year-old son walked away after a truck tractor pulling a semi-trailer slammed into the rear of their white Toyota Camry SE Monday afternoon.
According to Texas DPS Trooper Robert Aldrete, the mother driving the Camry was pointed northbound on U.S. 277 and stopped attempting to turn west on FM 2105. Her 3-year-old was in the back seat strapped into a car seat. Suddenly, the semi-truck appeared from behind and rear-ended the stopped Camry.
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Above: The truck in the field northwest of the intersection. In the foreground is the left-most utility pole the truck missed. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
Aldrete estimated that the truck was traveling at near-highway speeds—75 mph along this stretch of U.S. 277. Aldrete said that he did see skid marks, but at that speed and with the mass of the truck, it was too late for the trucker to do much. The force of the impact pushed the entire trunk of the Camry into the backseat to the point that the Camry appeared initially to be a hatchback.
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Above: The back of the Toyota Camry SE. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
Aldrete said that the truck driver told him that he was momentarily distracted, looked up, and saw that the collision was imminent. The trucker was visibly shaken-up by the experience.
The 9-1-1 call happened just after 5 p.m. and Aldrete said that by the time he arrived, the mother and child were walking around the crash scene. They were both transported to Shannon Medical Center as a precautionary measure, Aldrete said.
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Above: The front-end damage to the semi-truck. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
The trucker was cited for failure to control speed.
The occupants of the Camry were from Brownwood and traveling to the Midland area, Aldrete said. The side of the truck indicated it was from WK Farms in Avery, Texas. The truck was pulling a flatbed that was empty. During the crash, the truck narrowly missed two utility poles as it careened between them and into the field northwest of the intersection.
All occupants were wearing seatbelts. The weather was clear and the roadway dry.
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Above: The truck was operated by WK Farms, Avery, Texas. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
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