Carson Campaign Volunteer Killed, 3 Other Staffers Injured In Car Crash

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UPDATE: Jan. 19, 2016, 8:25 PM ET

A 25-year-old volunteer for Ben Carson’s presidential campaign died Tuesday evening after a car crash in Iowa that injured three other workers for the campaign.

A van carrying the campaign workers hit a patch of ice, flipped on its side, and was struck by another vehicle, a statement from the campaign said. After the accident, Braden Joplin was transported for treatment at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he died at 5:30 p.m. ET, NBC News reported.

The three other passengers, including the staffer who was driving, were treated and released from a hospital in Atlantic, Iowa.

Carson cancelled all campaign events for the rest of the day and a Wednesday event in California, according to NBC. The retired neurosurgeon planned to travel to Omaha to meet the volunteer’s family, and the campaign said it would cover travel costs for Joplin’s family to travel from Texas.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for meri meri says:

    “So, Dave, why do you walk with a limp?”

    (mumbles)

    “What was that?”

    “I got crippled in a car crash while working on a political campaign.”

    “Whose?”

    “I’d rather not say.”

  2. Were they driving back from the wildlife refuge?

  3. Carson has cancelled all campaign events for the rest of the day.

    I guess those 9 people that took a vacation day to see Carson at campaign stops are out of luck.
  4. Tweet captured from driver’s account just before the accident:
    “I would rather drive my car off a bridge than spend one more minute working on the Carson campaign.”

  5. When asked to comment, Ben Carson said, “The giant Moais on Easter Island were Goliath’s G.I.Joe toys.”

    (Everyone just snickered and walked away.)

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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