Update 3pm GMT (10am ET): The driver of the truck that rear-ended the car carrying Harry Reid's wife and daughter yesterday has been charged with reckless driving by Virginia police. In Virginia, reckless driving is a misdemeanor criminal charge that can carry a penalty of up to a year in jail and $2,500 fine.
The crash involved four vehicles on the I-95 in Fairfax at about 1pm, according to Virginia authorities. Senator Reid's daughter, Lana Reid Barringer, who lives nearby, was driving a Honda Odyssey van with her mother as a passenger, when they were rear-ended by the truck. The van crashed into a Jeep Grand Cherokee, which in turn struck a Chevrolet Cobalt. Everyone involved was wearing seat belts, police said. Two others were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the truck was unhurt.
Harry Reid, 70, and Landra Reid, 69, were high school sweethearts and have been married since 1959. They have five children, including son Rory Reid, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor in Nevada.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
Landra Reid has lived through danger before. In 1981, when her husband was a Nevada gaming commissioner and the mob was a presence in Las Vegas, she noticed something wrong with the family station wagon, she has said. She called an associate of her husband, who called police. The car had been rigged with a bomb, police said.
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00:30am GMT (7.30pm ET): Sad news this evening for Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, with his wife Landra and his daughter Lana in hospital in Washington DC with serious injuries, after the car they were travelling in was hit by a truck.
Senator Reid's office put out a statement:
"Senator Reid's wife, Landra, and daughter, Lana, were involved in an accident earlier today. They are being treated at a Washington-area hospital. While driving on a Washington DC highway, their vehicle was rear-ended by a semi-truck. Mrs Reid has a broken nose, broken back and broken neck. Lana has a neck injury and facial lacerations. Both Mrs Reid and Lana are conscious, can feel their extremities, and according to doctors their injuries are non-life threatening. Senator Reid has been to the hospital and appreciates the support he and his family are receiving from Nevadans and his colleagues in the Senate."
After going at the hospital with his family, Senator Reid returned to the Senate, to deal with "dramatic" developments in on-going healthcare reform meetings. A spokesman said Reid would return to the hospital after the meeting tonight.
