EL PASO, Texas -- Witnesses are hoping for the best for a truck driver seriously injured when an errant tire bounced into his cab.

“I just pray that he survives,” said Flor Lynch.

The prayers come after a tire crashed through the windshield of a semitrailer, sending the driver to hospital with serious injuries.

"The tire had made two big jumps,” said Humberto Urena, who witnessed the accident. “The third one hit him right on the driver's side."

Witnesses said the driver of the semi-truck wasn't in good condition when he was taken to Thomason Hospital.

"The driver was knocked out on the floor,” said Urena. “Knocked down with glass on his face and the tire was on his face also. And he was bleeding."

Lynch owns Network Funding. The accident happened on I-10 East near Geronimo, just a few feet away from her business.

"My employees looked out the window and saw him on a gurney and they were taking him away," she said.

Investigators said the driver is 36 years-old and is in critical condition.

Investigators said a pick-up truck with a trailer, traveling on I-10 West near Geronimo, may have lost a tire on a load that it was carrying. The tire bounced over to I-10 East.

"We do not even know if that individual even knows that his tire came off or lost part of what he had been carrying," said El Paso police spokesman Javier Sambrano.

The accident brought traffic to a hault during rush hour. I-10 East at Geronimo shut down for nearly 5 hours, with traffic backed up to Copia.

The truck the driver was driving was labeled F/X Freight Exchange of North America, LLC.