13-Year-Old Airlifted, Three Others Hurt After I-35 Work Zone Rollover Near Northwood, Iowa
What happened
A family of four from Kearney, Missouri was hospitalized — including a 13-year-old flown out by helicopter — after their SUV rolled over multiple times in a highway work zone on Interstate 35 in Worth County, Iowa. (Mix 107.3 KIOW)
According to the Iowa State Patrol and local news reports, the crash happened Thursday, July 23, 2026, at about 4:52 p.m. in the northbound lanes of I-35 near mile marker 212, just southwest of Northwood, inside an active highway work zone. A 2010 Chevrolet Silverado, driven by a 31-year-old man from Wells, Minnesota, was slowing and merging for the work zone. A 2026 Volkswagen Taos, driven by a 37-year-old man from Kearney, Missouri, attempted to pass the Silverado and struck its rear driver-side bumper. The Volkswagen then left the roadway into the median and rolled several times. (KIMT, Western Iowa Today)
All four occupants of the Volkswagen — the driver, a 33-year-old passenger, a 6-year-old passenger, and a 13-year-old passenger, all from Kearney — were injured and taken to MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center in Mason City. The 13-year-old was airlifted by MercyOne Air Med. The Silverado driver was not injured. The Iowa State Patrol, assisted by the Worth County Sheriff's Office, is investigating; no charges have been reported as of this writing. (KTTC)
Our condolences
A family traveling together — with a 6-year-old and a 13-year-old in the back seat — went through the kind of crash that changes how a family thinks about every car ride afterward. We're grateful all four survived, and our thoughts are with this Kearney, Missouri family as they recover, likely far from home and away from their own doctors and support system. A crash serious enough to require an air ambulance for a child is frightening in a way that doesn't end when the hospital releases you.
Work zones are dangerous by design — narrowed lanes, sudden merges, and drivers who don't adjust their speed or following distance in time. According to the Federal Highway Administration's most recent nationwide data, rear-end collisions caused nearly one-quarter (22%) of all fatal work zone crashes in 2024, and large trucks or buses were involved in nearly a third of them (FHWA, 2026 National Work Zone Awareness Week factsheet). This crash fits that pattern almost exactly: a vehicle slowing for a work zone, struck from behind while another driver tried to get past it.
There is also a genuine silver lining worth naming. Officials credited seat belts with saving the lives of the Volkswagen's driver and passengers in this rollover. NHTSA data shows seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat occupants by 45% (NHTSA, Seat Belts Save Lives) — a fact worth remembering every time you or your kids buckle up, especially through a work zone where the unexpected happens in an instant.
The rights of families after a crash like this
In crashes like this one, where a driver attempts to pass a vehicle that is slowing for a work zone and instead strikes it, families of the injured passengers often have a claim against the passing driver's auto insurance — and, depending on how the work zone was set up, potentially against the highway contractor or the Iowa Department of Transportation as well, if inadequate signage, lighting, or merge tapering contributed to the danger.
Every driver has a duty to maintain a safe following distance and to refrain from passing when it cannot be done safely, and that duty is heightened inside a marked work zone, where lane changes are restricted and sudden slowing is expected. If the reporting that the Volkswagen driver attempted to pass the Silverado and struck its rear bumper is accurate, the injured passengers in that vehicle — the 33-year-old, the 6-year-old, and the 13-year-old — may have claims against the driver of the vehicle they were riding in, separate from and in addition to any claim against the other driver. In Iowa, an injured passenger generally is not barred from recovering against their own driver's insurance simply because they were riding along with that person; a passenger's claim is evaluated on its own terms.
None of this is a conclusion about fault, and the Iowa State Patrol's investigation remains open. But based on what has been reported so far, the family has real questions worth asking about what happened in that work zone and who may be responsible for the harm that resulted.
How I help families in crisis
When a family is hurt together, hundreds of miles from home, in a wreck that could have killed them, my job is to take the stress off their shoulders — to take up the shield to protect and advocate for their rights and guide them through a process most families never expect to navigate. I've recovered more than $23 million for injured people and their families, and I'm proud of the trust reflected in 39 five-star client reviews and being named to Omaha's Best of Omaha-winning personal injury team in both 2025 and 2026.
If your family was hurt in a crash like this — in Nebraska, Iowa, or anywhere along your travels — I offer a free, no-pressure conversation, and if I take your case, there's no fee unless I win.