Jasper County, IA — January 25, 2026, Drew Peterson was killed in a truck accident at about 6 p.m. on Interstate 80 north of Colfax.

Authorities said a Honda Accord was heading west when it was hit by a set of tires and rims that had come loose from the cargo being hauled by an eastbound semi-truck.

Honda driver Drew Peterson, 22, of Worden, IL died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to authorities.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Jasper County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear that someone was killed after being hit by tires that came loose from a truck’s cargo, not the truck itself, it raises a very specific set of questions. Chief among them: How does a load of tires come apart on the highway with such deadly consequences?

We still don’t know much about the crash near Colfax, but based on what officials have said so far, the tires and rims that struck the victim were part of what the truck was hauling. That changes the focus of the investigation. We're no longer just asking whether the truck was properly maintained. Instead, we’re asking: Who loaded the cargo? Were the tie-downs sufficient? Was the load secure enough to withstand highway conditions?

I’ve worked on cases where improperly secured cargo turned an ordinary drive into a disaster. In those situations, the truck driver may have done everything right behind the wheel, but still ended up in court because someone failed to secure the load. In one case I handled, steel hanging off the back of a trailer caused a fatal crash; not because the driver was reckless, but because the people responsible for loading and planning the haul ignored basic safety procedures. When all was said and done, the jury didn’t just find fault with the driver; they held the shipper, loader and carrier responsible too.

That’s the kind of scrutiny this case will need. If the tires fell off because the straps failed, were the straps rated for that type of cargo? Were the rims stacked in a way that made shifting more likely? Did the trucking company or shipper follow cargo securement rules laid out in the federal regulations?

At this stage, we don’t know those answers. But what I can say is that cargo doesn’t just fly off a moving semi unless someone somewhere didn’t do their job. Whether that was the driver, the company that loaded the trailer or the firm that planned the shipment remains to be seen. But unless the investigation looks at all those possibilities, the truth is likely to stay buried.

Key Takeaways:

• The tires that caused the crash reportedly came loose from the semi-truck’s cargo, not the vehicle itself.
• This raises questions about how the load was secured, who loaded it and whether proper tie-downs were used.
• Multiple parties may share responsibility, including the driver, the loader and the trucking company.
• Cargo securement failures are often overlooked until a deadly crash forces them into the spotlight.
• A thorough investigation must examine not just the truck, but every link in the chain of how the cargo was handled.