thank god someone replied!
in the photo, you only see one side of it. the bolt is half on, its broken. What you see is one side of the bar thing that isnt connected to the bolt because it is broke. Which is why my tire hasn't fallen off yet.
i have tried to tap the bolt out, it wont budge, Ive tried to use a wrench etc to take the nut off the back but when i try to take it off, it springs back into place. so im not sure how to get the bolt off so that i an put a new one in and connect both sides of that arm.