http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_806007,00.html

Flying wheel kills man standing near interstate

By Berny Morson, News Staff Writer

A flying truck wheel killed a man Monday as he stood alongside a highway ramp and helped translate for a Denver police officer investigating an earlier crash.
Toby Archuleta died instantly of head injuries, said Denver police Detective Virginia Lopez.

Officer Kevin Smolka, who was standing near him, was not injured but was shaken, Lopez said.

"He rushed over, but there was nothing he could do," Lopez said.

Archuleta was standing beside the ramp from Interstate 270 to Interstate 70 in Denver when the wheel flew off an eastbound truck on Interstate 70.

I-270 and eastbound I-70 were closed for 90 minutes after the accident, which occurred during the waning hours of the morning rush hour.

The wheel came from the right side of a truck belonging to Graebel Cos., a national household moving van firm.

"We are just absolutely devastated by this news," said Allen Powers, the company's senior vice president for safety.

The truck returned to service after an Aug. 14 safety inspection, as required by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Powers said. The truck was being driven from Arvada Diesel in Henderson to Graebel's Aurora facility.

Powers said a Graebel engineer determined that lug nuts holding the wheel were loose. None of the parts that hold the wheel to the truck were broken.

No one from Arvada Diesel would comment.

Powers said the company will not move two or three other trucks still at Arvada Diesel until police complete the investigation of the Monday incident.

The driver of the truck was unaware a wheel had come off because the huge semi-trailer has multiple wheels on each side. He was alerted by another trucker and pulled over near Havana Street in Aurora.

Powers said the driver, a 20-year veteran, is not believed to be at fault.

The death followed an earlier three-car accident in which no one was injured. Archuleta had been involved in that accident and translated for other Spanish-speaking people who were involved.

The others involved in the earlier accident had left when the death occurred.