A rough story out of Washington state as a woman used to keeping people up-to-date on what emergency crews are doing unwittingly live tweets her own tragedy.
"A heart-wrenching story tonight from a Vancouver mother. She ended up live tweeting a deadly crash only to find out her husband was the one who was killed." (Via KOIN)
The story played out Wednesday over Caran Johnson's Twitter handle @ScanCouver, which has more than 3,000 followers. (Twitter / @ScanCouver)
As The Columbian began reporting this crash on Interstate 205, Johnson monitored scanners as usual and interacted with the paper's Twitter feed.
When The Columbian wrote the collision had a confirmed fatality, Johnson responded, "omg that is so horrible!!!"
Only eight minutes later, nerves set in as she wrote, "I'm trying not to panic, but my husband left work early and he drives 205 to get home. he's not answering his phone."
The trooper who handles the Washington State Highway Patrol's Twitter feed knows Johnson through social media. (Via New York Daily News)
As she called 911 to get more information, he checked on the crash.
"At that point, I went to her Twitter feed and started reading what she was posting. Can't find my husband, he's not answering his phone — and at that point, that's when I realized that this might be something we want to deal with right now." (Via KGW-TV)
Purposefully not putting pictures out over social media, the trooper says two investigators drove to Johnson's home to tell her in person her husband was gone.
Almost exactly two hours from the time she started monitoring the crash, @ScanCouver — presumably Johnson — wrote, "it's him. he died."
