A woman inadvertently live-tweeted her husband’s death on Twitter after he became involved in a car crash. Caran Johnson, from Canada, took to the social networking site within minutes of the accident on Interstate 205 near Vancouver, British Colombia. She started with: “I hate that section of I205 S. Too many on ramps, speeders and too few lanes.”
A few moments later, she added: “This accident sounds horrible.”
It was only when emergency workers confirmed someone had died in the crash that Mrs Johnson started to panic. Her husband Craig had failed to return home from work, and he wasn’t answering his phone. Her next tweet read: “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.”
In a later post, she tweeted: “He uses his Bluetooth, so he would answer his phone. He also wasn’t feeling good so his work was concerned when he left.”
She then tweeted a Washington State Patrol officer, asking for descriptions of the vehicles involved. As she waited to hear back, she posted another tweet. It read: “I just called 911 and they transferred me after I gave them his licence number and told me that they will call me back.”
An hour later, she tweeted: “It’s him. He died.”
After her husband’s death, Mrs Johnson continued to share her feelings on Twitter. She tweeted: “I feel like a block of cement fell on me.” Later, she added: “Tomorrow will be hard. I’ll hear from the medical examiner.”
Overnight, Mrs Johnson went from 567 followers to over 1,300. The next day, she had more than 3,000 followers, as fellow internet users set up a fundraising page to raise $10,000 for her and her family.
KPTV, a local television station, stated that Mr Johnson’s car crossed the central reservation and crashed into a pick-up truck heading in the opposite direction.
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