Woman tweets about crash, then learns hubby is victim

Over two hours, a woman in Washington, US, tweeted about a car crash, not knowing that her husband was the one killed in it.

Mrs Caran Johnson, 41, a state police scanner enthusiast (someone who listens to police radio), began tweeting about a two-car crash on Wednesday afternoon.

She tweeted that one person had died and that the wreck was "horrible".

She tweeted: "I'm trying not to panic, but my husband left work early and he drives Interstate 205 (where the accident happened) to get home. He's not answering his phone."

She also shared with her almost 1,000-strong followers that her husband Craig suffered from epilepsy and she began to speculate that his condition could have caused a crash.

She then called her husband's office and was told that the 47-year-old had left early because he had been feeling faint.

No sign

About an hour after the crash, her two children came home, but there was still no sign of their father.

Mrs Johnson went silent on Twitter for about 35 minutes.

About two hours after her first tweet, she told her followers that the victim was her husband.

The Washington State Patrol confirmed that Mr Johnson was killed when his car crossed the divider and collided with a pickup truck. The truck driver was seriously injured.

Ms April Sturdevant then tweeted Mrs Johnson in a desperate bid to pass on "words of comfort".

She was at the scene of the accident and had been with Mr Johnson during his "last breath".

Mrs Johnson is well-known for live-tweeting, becoming the subject of a story by the Associated Press early this year.

She said then: "I just have some kind of fascination of listening in to the secret world of the scanner that not everyone gets to hear."

Get The New Paper for more stories.