On Tuesday, Texas Tech student Braden Joplin, 25, died after being critically injured in a crash in Iowa. He was campaigning on behalf of Ben Carson when the campaign van flipped on an icy road and was struck by another truck.
“As we’re sleeping, everything’s peaceful and suddenly I hear Drew and Ryan both scream,” Said Aaron Ohnemus, a friend of Joplin’s who was also in the van, “At that point we started spinning a little bit. And my seatbelt had been off at the time because I was grabbing a glove and I remember just flying to the side, landing on a pile of metal stands. I thought that was the end of it but as we’re spinning, I didn’t feel the collision, I heard a really loud sound, which ended up being a truck that t-boned the back end of our van.”
Ohnemus said that when he regained consciousness, Joplin was nowhere to be seen.
“I looked up and I could see Ryan in the front and Andrew in the front seat, but I didn’t see Braden at all.”He said.
Carson temporarily suspended his presidential campaign Tuesday while Joplin was taken to the trauma center of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Ohnemus said that he and Joplin bonded in the week they had campaigned together and that Joplin was an inspiring friend.
“Dr. Carson said it really well. Braden was the most compassionate man I knew,” he said.
Texas Tech lowered their flag on Wednesday for Joplin and for Zachary Kafer, a 20 year old student who was killed on the 14th.
In a brief statement, they said:
“Loss of life is difficult and touches us even more deeply when it involves family within the Texas Tech University community. Our hearts and deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of Zachary and Braden.”
