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130-mph crash, car fire lead to two minor injuries on I-80
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · April 10, 2024
A car traveling approximately 130 mph smashed into the back of a truck on April 4 but the two drivers received only minor injuries, according to law enforcement.
Emergency responders received a call about 3 p.m. that day to Interstate 80 near the 250 milemarker, about a quarter-mile east of Herbert Hoover Highway.
According to Iowa State Patrol Trooper Jacob Waymire, Xavier Wright, 29, of Iowa City was driving a blue 2014 Dodge Charger eastbound at a speed “calculated at 130 miles per hour.”
Wright was allegedly driving in the far right lane and attempted to get around the left side of a red 2023 Kenworth semi-tractor-trailer driven by Jason Jerome Gilbert, 41, of Santa Fe, N.M.
Waymire’s report states that Wright tried to cross two lanes, to the far left lane, but lost control, swerving back to the far right lane and striking the truck on the left rear corner of the trailer.
The car then skidded off the right side of the road and came to rest about 150 yards from the shoulder in a field where it caught fire. Iowa City Fire Department put out the car fire.
West Branch Fire Chief Kevin Stoolman said Iowa City Fire Department arrived on the scene first, so WBFD parked on the nearby eastbound on-ramp until called down to treat one of the drivers.
Both Wright and Gilbert were treated at the scene by the fire department’s emergency medical technicians and Johnson County Ambulance Service paramedics. Waymire reports both were wearing their seat belts and both were taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for further treatment.
Stoolman said Wright escaped the burning car before EMTs arrived.
Waymire estimates that semi, owned by Contract Freighters Inc. of Indianapolis, received about $5,000 in damage.
The trooper estimated damage to the Charger at $40,000 and listed it as “totaled.”
Johnson County Sheriff’s Department also responded to the scene with multiple vehicles.
Stoolman said he hoped the driver of the car gets “a big ticket.”
The case is still under investigation, according to the ISP.
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