The RCMP is investigating the possibility that a fatal weekend crash in central Alberta may have been caused by a tire that came off a small truck or a trailer.
A 54-year-old man died at the scene Sunday when police say his northbound vehicle on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway hit a guard rail at the Highway 53 overpass near Ponoka.
Police say a preliminary investigation shows a large tire may have dislodged from a southbound vehicle and struck the man’s vehicle before he hit the guard rail.
A female passenger who suffered minor injuries was treated and released.
Police say after getting tips from the public, they’re now looking for the driver or owner of either a dual-wheel one-tonne or three-quarter-tonne truck, or a goose-neck flat-deck trailer which may have lost a wheel.
On Wednesday, RCMP released a photo of a “vehicle of interest” in the case. It is a goose neck trailer, pulled by a one- or three-quarter tonne truck. The photo was captured at about 7 p.m. heading south on the QEII, at the Gee Road exit, on Dec. 10.
RCMP would like to speak with the driver of that vehicle.
Mounties initially thought the wheel may have come off a semi-trailer truck.
— With files from Global News