A 35-year-old single mother was rear-ended so hard her back windshield disappeared, and the person responsible couldn’t even be bothered to check if she was okay before speeding away. Now, Whitney Bruner is turning to the public for help finding the driver who left her stranded on the side of the highway in the pouring rain with a crumpled car and zero answers.
The crash happened around 7 a.m. on a rainy Wednesday morning on Interstate 69 near the 220-mile marker, just outside Indianapolis. Bruner was heading to work in Carmel when traffic suddenly slowed ahead of her after another vehicle spun out. That brief slowdown set off a chain of events she couldn’t have predicted, because the driver behind her apparently didn’t get the memo that traffic had stopped.
What makes this story even harder to believe is what happened in the seconds after impact. Bruner gathered herself, checked her surroundings, and turned around to assess the damage. The rear of her car was destroyed. Her rear window was gone. And the driver who had just slammed into her? Nowhere to be found. No pulled-over vehicle. No hazard lights blinking on the shoulder. Nothing. Just tire tracks and rain.
Bruner had not one but two dash cameras rolling when the crash happened, and both captured the chaos as it unfolded. One recorded the terrifying moment of impact before the screen went dark. The other caught her immediately, calling her father for help. Those cameras may now be her strongest tools in tracking down the person responsible, because Bruner managed to pull screenshots of the suspect vehicle and is hoping someone out there recognizes it.
“I Just Held On and Waited for It to Be Over”
There is something uniquely awful about seeing a crash coming and being completely powerless to stop it. That’s exactly what Bruner experienced in the final moments before impact. She could see the vehicle approaching fast, knew it wasn’t going to stop in time, and made the only decision she could: keep the car straight and brace.
“It was really scary,” she said. “I didn’t really have much time to react before the impact. I remember just thinking to keep my car straight as he hit me. I knew he was coming, and I kind of just held on and waited for it to be over.”
That instinct to stay calm under extreme pressure likely made a significant difference. Had she swerved, the outcome could have been far more catastrophic, especially on a wet interstate already dealing with another spinout. Instead, she absorbed the hit and brought her vehicle to a stop safely, all while processing what had just happened to her.
Her First Thought Was About Her 4-Year-Old Son
Once the car stopped moving and the shock began to settle in, Bruner’s mind immediately went somewhere deeply personal. Not to her car. Not to the pain she was already feeling from the impact. Her first thought was about her young son, who thankfully was not in the vehicle with her that morning.
“My first reaction was, ‘Thank goodness that my four-year-old son wasn’t in the car,'” Bruner said. When she turned around and saw the smashed rear end and the missing windshield, that gratitude only grew. The back of the vehicle had taken a brutal hit. A child in a rear-facing or rear seat could have been seriously hurt or worse.
It’s a reminder of how quickly everything can change on a busy commuter highway. One distracted driver, one wet road, and one moment of inattention can turn an ordinary Tuesday morning into a life-altering event. Bruner walked away bruised but alive, and she knows it could have gone differently.
Left Alone on the Highway, Now Left Without a Car
After the crash, Bruner was left with a totaled vehicle, visible injuries, and absolutely no assistance from the driver who caused it all. She stood on the side of Interstate 69, in the rain, alone, waiting for help to arrive while the person responsible was already long gone.
Hit-and-run crashes are more common than many people realize. Under Indiana law, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or property damage is a criminal offense, with penalties that escalate depending on the severity of the crash. A driver who flees and leaves someone injured can face felony charges. And yet, people still do it, apparently calculating that the risk of being caught is lower than the risk of staying.
Bruner is now working through the practical fallout: a totaled car, physical soreness, and a rental vehicle she has to return after just seven days. She is facing all of that while also trying to find the person who put her in this situation. “Cars can be replaced, and I’m just taking the steps forward to now do what I have to do from here on out,” she said. That’s a remarkably composed response from someone who had her morning, her vehicle, and her sense of safety completely upended.
She Wants Accountability, Not Just an Apology
Bruner has been transparent about what she wants from all of this. She is not just venting. She wants the driver found. “There’s a person out there who was okay with leaving a 35-year-old single mother on the side of a highway in the pouring rain with a crumpled-up car all by herself,” she said. “I think that accountability is necessary.”
She has shared screenshots from her dash camera footage showing the vehicle she believes struck her, and she is asking anyone who recognizes it to come forward. Indiana State Police have been contacted about the incident, though investigators had not yet issued a public update at the time of this report.
If you were on I-69 near the 220-mile marker around 7 a.m. on Wednesday and saw something, or if you recognize the vehicle from Bruner’s shared images, you are encouraged to contact Indiana State Police.