On Monday, March 25, an auto body shop owner was close to being hit by two semi-truck tires that crashed into his shop.
Robert Vigil, owner of Extreme Auto Body in Greeley, Colorado, told KDVR-TV reporters that he was in a paint booth when the tires crashed into the section of the shop where he was. The tires ripped through the wall of the building’s exterior that faces U.S. Route 85.
The tires struck the driver’s side quarter panel of a 1963 Ford Falcon that Vigil and his 86-year-old father restore in their spare time. No one was injured in the incident.
In a phone call with FenderBender, Vigil said his father, who usually works on the car, had stayed home that day due to icy road conditions from a recent snowstorm and a medical appointment he had that day.
“He was in complete shock,” Vigil said as he recounted how he broke the news to his father. He described his father as very reserved and stoic, but not when he told him about the damages done to their father-son project.
As of March 27, the tires remain at the body shop, the owners of the tires are still unidentified, and a police investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
According to Big Rig Pros, the average cost of semi-truck tires is between $400 and $600 each.
Vigil told FenderBender that the tires remain on his property and he plans to pursue any legal action possible if he discovers the incident was due to negligence.