On October 14, 2022, Kristen Kalbfleisch was driving home to see family on Highway I-29 from Lincoln, NE to Kansas City, MO.
At around 11:30 a.m. that day, she approached a large traffic jam from an earlier crash and reduced her speed to a crawl. Suddenly, she noticed a rapidly-moving semi-truck in her rearview mirror barreling toward her. She later shared that it was the most bizarre feeling in the world to know you’re about to get hit incredibly hard but being unable to process a single thought. She recalls screaming and looking out her window, while flipping upside-down over and over again. Her incredible 6-year-old black lab, Bo-Jax, was in the car with her.
When her car had finished rolling, she was upside down. She frantically searched for Bo-Jax, whose tail and two back legs had become pinned between the headrest and the roof of the car. She yelled his name, but he did not move. She pushed him through the smashed driver-side back window, bleeding all over. Emergency medical personnel took her to the hospital for treatment after they arrived at the scene.
Kristen is due to make a full physical recovery, but is suffering great emotional and mental anguish.