Wayward trailer tire disables Mercedes Benz on I-70 Thursday night

<b>A tire from a trailer traveling in the opposite direction disabled this Mercedes Benz  Thursday night on Interstate 70 in Saline County. </b>Photos courtesy Saline County Sheriff's Office — **A tire from a trailer traveling in the opposite direction disabled this Mercedes Benz Thursday night on Interstate 70 in Saline County.** Photos courtesy Saline County Sheriff's Office

By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post

Two people from Manhattan were slightly injured when a trailer tire disabled a Mercedes Benz on Interstate 70 (I-70) northeast of Salina late Thursday night.

Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said this morning that a westbound 2013 Chevrolet Traverse driven by Paul Wilson, 47, Collinsville, Ill., was pulling a flatbed trailer with a utility task vehicle on it when the left tire came off the trailer, went across the median and struck the front of an eastbound 2021 Mercedes-Benz driven by Behrooz Miradzal, 51, of Manhattan. The accident occurred at approximately 11:46 p.m. at mile marker 257 on I-70.

<b>The impact of the tire was strong enough that airbags deployed in the Mercedes-Benz.</b> — **The impact of the tire was strong enough that airbags deployed in the Mercedes-Benz.**

Miradzal suffered a sore knee and scuffs from the deployed air bags. A front-seat passenger in the vehicle, Fariba Fateh, 47, of Manhattan, also suffered scuffs, Soldan said. A 14-year-old girl in the back seat was not injured.

The impact of the tire caused disabling front-end damage to the Mercedes-Benz, which had to be towed, Soldan said. Wilson's trailer also had to be towed, he added.