Ben Carson campaign halted after Iowa student staffers crash in van, one in ‘grave condition’
Ben Carson canceled campaign events for Tuesday and Wednesday after three volunteers and one staffer for the retired neurosurgeon’s campaign were involved in a car accident.
“We unfortunately had some tragedy in our campaign today,” Carson told CNN affiliate WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina, where he had been campaigning. “One of the vans in Iowa, with one of our staffers and three student volunteers, hit a patch of ice, flipped on its side, (and) was hit by another vehicle.”
Three of the staffers have been checked in at the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa. One volunteer has been transported to the trauma center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska and is reportedly in grave condition.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders reports that the volunteers were students.
Carson said he did not know the precise location of the accident.
“Dr. Carson is asking people to join him in prayer for all the individuals and families involved,” the campaign said in a statement.
Carson was in South Carolina Tuesday, where he had speaking engagements in Charleston and Mount Pleasant.
Fellow Republican presidential contenders quickly took to Twitter to express their support.
Donald Trump’s campaign manager weighed in on his behalf: