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Driver’s windshield smashed from ice falling off truck

Posted at 9:31 PM, Feb 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-28 08:59:51-05

UTAH COUNTY - One minute he’s merging onto I-15, the next, he’s scrambling for the shoulder with blood on his face.

“It’s like it was in slow motion, and I didn’t know what to do,” said Dave Lombardi from Spanish Fork.

Lombardi was driving on I-15 between Spanish Fork and Springville. As he merged, he noticed a semi-truck next to him.

“Then I glanced over one more time just as a sheet of ice was flying off the top of the truck. I looked up like that,” Lombardi gestured towards the rear-view mirror. “I had blood coming down all my face.”

Lombardi describes the sheet as being two foot by three feet long. It sent shards of ice and glass into his face as it came through the windshield.

“Could we charge a driver for that?” asked Lieutenant Todd Royce with Utah Highway Patrol. “Yes, we could. Would it stick in court? Maybe, maybe not.”

Lt. Royce said all drivers are responsible for anything that flies off.

However, it’s not so easy for semi-truck drivers. Eloy Collazo drives a truck for a Utah company and says some companies won’t allow drivers to get on the roofs of trucks.

“It’s pretty dangerous,” Collazo said. He did note that many truck stops have washes that can clean off the tops.

“I thought maybe the driver should have been a little more meticulous about cleaning the top of his truck before he took off,” Lombardi said.

As for Lombardi, he said he’s not upset with the truck driver, but he would like to find him for insurance purposes. He is looking at covering the charges his insurance doesn’t pick up for the new windshield, and the CAT Scan he got at the hospital.