DeSantis in automobile accident in Tennessee

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), traveling to a campaign event in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was involved in a major traffic accident.

DeSantis motorcade involved

Details of the accident come from CNN, OANN, The Daily Caller, The Patriotic News, and GOP Presidential. The accident happened on Interstate 75, southbound, toward Chattanooga. DeSantis was in a four-car motorcade with an undetermined number of staff traveling with him. Unfortunately, rush hour had begun in Chattanooga, which slowed traffic on all highways approaching it. The Chattanooga Police Department had the details. DeSantis’ lead car had to brake to avoid hitting another car – and then every other car in the motorcade ended up hitting the car ahead. Apparently one female employee suffered a minor injury, but the accident didn’t make any of the cars un-drive-able. All continued to the event, where the slightly injured employee received first aid.

“All the vehicles involved were government vehicles accompanying Governor DeSantis and his team to his scheduled event,” the police said. They said nothing about whether anyone involved received a traffic citation or other charge.

Initial reports on Twitter were sketchy and took hours to get the straight story.

Apparently some people doubted that the accident even occurred.

In addition, CNAV must observe that various outlets have statements from the Chattanooga Police as well as the DeSantis campaign.

Questions about the accident

Some tweets seem to come from people who forget that no State governor ever drives his own car. And to reply to one persistent complaint: yes, some tweets did seem to wish DeSantis ill. CNAV condemns such sentiments, no matter who expresses them.

One user wondered whether the DeSantis team staged the accident to garner sympathy. In fact the team might have laid themselves open to that charge. Four seasoned, professional drivers, of government vehicles, probably State troopers all, break every rule of safe driving distance. One has to brake hard to avoid a rear-end collision, and then the entire motorcade piles up on itself. Why this should happen, is far from clear. Equally far from clear is how the motorcade could continue on to the event – or how fast it was traveling.

And if this tweet is any indicator, perhaps the campaign has a motive: to distract from the perception of a failing campaign.