CALHOUN COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – A 19-year-old South Dakota baseball player died after a bus carrying the Iowa Lakes Community College team crashed in northern Iowa on Wednesday.
Carter Johnson died at the scene after the bus carrying 33 people rolled into a ditch on Highway 4 west of Twin Lakes in Calhoun County, according to the Iowa State Patrol.
The team was traveling to a game in Arkansas when the 74-year-old bus driver went off the road, then overcorrected and rolled the bus into the ditch. All 32 people on the bus were injured in the crash.
Two people were ejected and trapped under the bus. Student-athletes in a school van traveling behind the bus gave CPR to Johnson after the crash, but he died at the scene.
The Iowa State Patrol said the S-curve where the crash happened is known to be dangerous. Four people have died in crashes there in the last 10 years.
Everyone taken by ambulance to the hospital with injuries has been released, according to the Iowa State Patrol. The condition of athletes who were life-flighted to Des Moines was not immediately available.
“Carter was a great teammate, a friend, and a valued member of our athletic community,” Troy Larson, Iowa Lakes Community College’s Athletic Director said. “We’re heartbroken for this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with Carter’s family, we cannot imagine the depth of their loss, and we are holding them close in our hearts,” Larson said.
Iowa Lakes Community College canceled classes Thursday and Friday but campuses remain open with counselors available to talk to students.
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date: 2026-02-13 01:36:00
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