Arkansas woman injured after tire thrown off overpass onto interstate

PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. — PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. (KATV) - An Arkansas woman is recovering after being hit by a tire that went through her boyfriend's windshield.

Arkansas State Police say someone threw it off an overpass into oncoming traffic.

Now the woman and her family are asking for the public's help finding whoever responsible.

A small SUV with flashing lights stopped on an overpass is all Brianna Vilches remembers before everything went dark.

"I have a severe concussion, four to five fractures to the nose, and there is something going on with my jaw and my teeth," Vilches said.

Vilches and her boyfriend Caleb Russell were driving back home Friday night.

When they approached the Dreher Road overpass above Interstate 530, they say a tire came crashing down through the windshield, striking Brianna in the face.

"I said, 'What was that?' and I looked over, and she was slumped unconscious in the passenger seat," Russell said.

Brianna was rushed to the emergency room.

Her mother, Beth Vilches, learned from investigators that this is not the first time a similar incident has happened in the same area.

She says she took to social media, hoping to warn the public.

"I have been contacted by people who say they've been affected by this bridge, and things coming from this bridge for years," Vilches said.

Her post was shared more than 5,000 times.

But Brianna says she just wants whoever responsible to be caught.

"Please quit. I don't know if this is a game, but I am hurting."

Briana's mother tells KATV that Monday, someone reached out to her saying it happened a third time in just three days.

Fortunately, that driver got out of the way just in time.