TWIN LAKES, Iowa — Authorities on Thursday identified a 19-year-old from South Dakota as the sole fatality of a bus crash in rural Iowa that injured 32 other members of a community college’s baseball team.
Carter Johnson was an outfielder from Rapid City in his first year at Iowa Lakes Community College, according to the team roster. Johnson died Wednesday after the bus overturned in a ditch alongside a highway near Twin Lakes, Iowa, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines, authorities said Thursday.
The bus went off the road for “unknown reasons,” said Iowa State Patrol Lt. Aaron Smidt, and the crash is under investigation.
“Carter was a great teammate, a friend and a valued member of our athletic community,” said Troy Larson, the school’s athletic director. “In his time here, he really impacted our campus, both within our halls, in the classrooms, as well as on the playing field.”
Smidt said student-athletes in a vehicle trailing the bus were administering CPR to Johnson when first responders arrived. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.
All of the other occupants on the bus — 32 teammates — were injured in the crash but are stable and recovering, Smidt said. Three were airlifted for treatment in the Des Moines area.
The team had games scheduled Thursday and Friday at North Arkansas College in Harrison, Arkansas. Larson said the coaches and players will discuss in the weeks ahead how the team will move forward with their season.
“It’s going to take some time for them to recover from some injuries,” Smidt said, without providing details on the injuries or the conditions. “It was a pretty violent collision.”
