Metal pole pierces windshield, hits pregnant driver after falling off truck on SoCal freeway
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
A mother and her unborn twins miraculously survived after a metal pole fell off a truck on a Southern California freeway, pierced her car windshield and struck her in the stomach, authorities said.
For the record:
4:31 p.m. July 10, 2026A previous version of this article said the incident happened on the 5 Freeway. It was the 15 Freeway.
In what could have been a scene from a horror movie — but fortunately had a happy ending — the California Highway Patrol said the expectant mother was driving a Ram ProMaster northbound on the 15 Freeway in the Temecula area on Wednesday around 2:15 p.m. when the incident occurred.
“In what can only be described as a miracle, the woman sustained only minor injuries, and the twins are reported to be fine,” the CHP said on social media.
Photos released by the CHP show a hole punched through the van’s windshield and a web of cracks surrounding it. The pole appears to be a car hauler tie-down bar.
According to the CHP, unsecured loads contribute to thousands of crashes each year, which lead to serious injuries and death. Road debris alone causes over 200,000 crashes in the U.S.
“A simple metal bar became a high-speed projectile — a stark reminder that what isn’t properly secured can turn deadly in an instant,” the CHP said in a statement.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
UCLA professor and climate scientist, Alex Hall, joins host Kate Cagle to talk about how we can better prepare ourselves for the next mega-fire, including a proposal to create a classification system – and a standardized response – for Santa Ana wind storms, similar to the one we use for hurricanes in the U.S.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with actor and stand-up comedian Fabrizio Guido — currently starring in Netflix’s Running Point — for a conversation about growing up all over LA, making his film debut alongside Brad Pitt in World War Z at age 12, and what it took to build a career from child actor to leading man.
