21-year-old father killed on Katy Freeway by tire that fell from truck

KATY, Texas - The passenger killed in a strange accident when a tire flew from a truck on the Katy Freeway last night has been identified as a 21-year-old father of a newborn baby girl.

Clayton Vaughn was in the passenger seat and loved ones say his girlfriend was driving when the horrible wreck happened around 7:30 p.m. on I-10 near Blalock.

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According to the Precinct 5 Constable’s Office, witnesses saw a landscaping-style trailer being pulled by a truck. They say a tire flew from the truck or the trailer and smashed into the passenger side of the windshield where Vaughn was sitting in the SUV. The tire crashing through the glass caused Vaughn’s girlfriend to swerve across six lanes of traffic before coming to a stop.

Precinct 5 says witnesses are telling them the truck towing the trailer pulled over and then drove away.

Vaughn’s loved ones say just on Easter Sunday he gave his life to God and accepted Jesus as his savior.

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"I can’t tell you how much joy that brings to our family. The loss and the grief that we’re feeling right now you just can’t process something like this. There are no words. He was such a sweet and loving soul. He loved his family," says his aunt Priscilla Stansell. "He called his mom every day. You ask anybody who knew Clayton, they’ll tell you what a kind person he was. It just breaks my heart that we’ll never see him again."

Precinct 5 is still searching for the person who was driving the truck that lost the tire.