A Vancouver, Wash. woman who live-tweets police activity from a scanner live-tweeted a fatal car accident on Wednesday. As she continued tweeting, she began to realize that the victim may be her husband.
Caran Johnson uses the Twitter handle @ScanCouver to tweet out messages she hears on a police scanner. According to KGW in Portland, she tweeted about an accident on Interstate 205 northbound. Her messages followed a tweet from The Columbian newspaper. “This accident sounds horrible,” she wrote when the Columbian said that one lane was closed on 205.
Next, the Columbian reported that there was a fatality. “Omg that is so horrible!!!” Johnson tweeted. Then, she told her followers that she was “trying not to panic,” since her husband left work early and wasn’t home yet. He also hadn’t called her.
Later, she wrote “I just called his work and he was feeling faint when he left work. #panic” and then said that her husband has epilepsy and may “have pulled over because he was feeling faint and then passed out or had a seizure.”
She called 911 and later reported that her children were home. Then, in one simple tweet, she wrote the worst news - “it's him. he died.” She thanked people for their support on the social network, writing, “Thank you all so much for the prayers and thoughts. I'll reply to everyone later tonight.”
According to NBC News, the Washington State Patrol and local police did confirm that Craig R. Johnson, 47, did die in the accident. He had crossed over the median and hit a truck. The driver of the truck was seriously injured.
Johnson has made her account private since her husband’s death. KGW did post the tweets on Storify: