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City of Chico fire engineer Zach Plottel checks an accident on the Skyway Thursday in which a...
CHICO -- A trailer loaded with sand came loose from a pickup eastbound on the Skyway Thursday morning, then flew across the median and collided head-on with a vehicle coming the other way.

Chico resident Sue Nickas, 61, suffered minor injuries. She was released after treatment from Enloe Medical Center.

Nickas said she had just finished playing golf at Tuscan Ridge and was headed back to Chico.

As she passed Honey Run Road, Nickas said she suddenly saw a trailer bounding through the median and coming straight at her, fast.

"My first thought was, I'm dead," Nickas said.

The tongue end of the trailer slammed into the front of Nickas' Nissan Altima, bringing it to an almost instant stop.


A woman driving behind Nickas, Liz Reichow of Paradise, said the accident looked like something out of a movie, with the trailer appearing out of nowhere.

Nickas recalled seeing sand from the trailer pouring over her car.

She said her air bag deployed, and believes most of the superficial injuries to her arms and chest were caused by that.

The driver of the truck who lost the trailer turned around and drove back to the crash scene. The man, not immediately identified by police, said he had no idea how the trailer had come loose.

Police said a safety chain between the vehicle and the trailer may have broken.

"At the hospital, police told me they couldn't even find the hitch to the trailer," Nickas said.