Falling ice from truck smashes car, injures driver

In a strange and unforeseen accident, a large chunk of ice fell from a semitrailer truck, smashing through the windshield of a passing motorist who says he's lucky to be alive.

Pete Morano, 41, of Aurora said he was driving east on Butterfield Road just past Eola Road near Aurora on Monday when he passed the westbound truck at a railroad underpass. There was little clearance between the top of the truck and the underpass, so the ice on top of the trailer was dislodged. It hit Morano's car, shattering the windshield.

"It hit me out of nowhere," he said.

Morano suffered several broken bones in his left eye and nose as well as a potentially permanent loss of sight in the eye caused by a torn iris. Morano was released from Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora on Tuesday night, but he remains in considerable pain.

"On the bright side, I do have one perfectly operational eye," he said Wednesday, adding that he was merely inches away from possibly damaging both eyes. "I just hope and pray that I will have sight in this one."

For now, he must play a waiting game. Doctors told Morano that it would take between six and 12 months to determine whether his sight will return.

The truck driver may have not known what happened and did not stop, DuPage County sheriff's police said. Although he holds out hope that the truck will be located, Morano said he was surprised to find there is no law forcing truck drivers to clear snow and ice off their vehicles.

Police are warning drivers to keep an eye out for ice and snow falling from trailers during inclement weather.

Morano credits two passers-by with possibly saving his life. They saw the accident and stopped to help. A man in a van and a woman identifying herself as a nurse applied pressure to his face to reduce blood loss.

"I didn't feel too lucky," Morano said. "But in retrospect, I truly was. I could have been killed."