CANTON, Mich. (WXYZ) — A routine drive to work turned tragic for Tera Shamey and her brother-in-law. Tuesday, she said they were carpooling when a metal object came crashing through her windshield.
Shamey was driving on southbound I-275, just south of Warren Road, when the incident occurred. Her passenger, Dr. Joe Musial, was struck in the head.
Shamey told 7 News Detroit, "It was sort of on an angle coming from above. I saw it from my peripheral vision, so it was coming from my right-hand side.”
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“There were a couple of other trucks around me," she recalled.
“I turned and saw Joe. He wasn’t okay. He wasn’t conscious," Shamey explained.
She called 911, exited the freeway onto Ford Road, and applied pressure on Joe's head injury until medics arrived.
“And it was in the back seat is where they found it. It was a heavy. Heavy piece of metal that someone described as possibly coming.. like looking like it could be from a tire drum," she explained.
Sadly, Dr. Musial, a husband, father, statistician and researcher at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, was pronounced dead at St. Mary’s Hospital.
“These stories just keep getting told about the things that Joe has done for people. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more thoughtful person in my life. I had the joy of knowing him since he married my sister," Shamey said.
That's 27 years-plus of making memories that his loved ones will hold dearly.
Shamey said, "It was so random. How did this happen? I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”
That’s why she sat down with 7 News Detroit. Shamey said her family is not looking to place blame, but they're pushing for prevention and perhaps, stronger compliance and enforcement around properly securing truck loads to help protect others on the road.
They also hope someone may recognize or have information about the truck that lost the piece of metal involved in the deadly crash.
“If anyone has some information we could maybe find out how this happened so that whatever rule was broken or whatever happened that piece of metal that came through my windshield and I don’t want that to happen to anyone ever again," Shamey said.
Michigan State Police also ask anyone with information to give them a call.
