A Carleton Place man is dead after police say a set of wheels from a tractor-trailer flew off and struck his van on Hwy. 417 near Carling Avenue early Friday morning.
OPP identified the man as 50-year-old Gennadi Brianski late Friday afternoon.
Police said a dual wheel assembly from a westbound tractor-trailer became detached, bounced across the cement median and struck Brianski's van, which was heading eastbound.
“The driver in the van, he didn’t even probably know it was coming at him, you have two heavy tires probably in excess of a thousand pounds flying towards him and he wouldn’t have seen it,” said Cst. Eric Booth.
The incident happened just before 6 a.m. Friday.
Police said the driver of the truck, Daniel Mongeon of Gatineau, has been charged with driving a commercial vehicle with parts detached, which is a Highway Traffic Act offence.
The Ottawa company that owned the tractor-trailer, ICB Food Distribution, is charged with operating an unsafe commercial motor vehicle, also under the Highway Traffic Act.
OPP said the driver of the tractor trailer noticed smoke coming from the wheel and began to pull over when the set of wheels became unattached. At least one other vehicle was involved in a minor collision as a result of the first one; it resulted in minor injuries.
Police say the driver of the truck did conduct his pre-trip inspection before heading out on the road, and believe the problem was inside the wheel area and likely unseen without taking things apart.
The highway was closed for several hours for the investigation.
