WASHINGTON - Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife was hospitalized with a broken back and neck Thursday after a tractor-trailer truck slammed into the back of the minivan in which she and their daughter were riding on an interstate highway in suburban Virginia, officials said.
Reid's wife, Landra, 69, whose injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, and their daughter, Lana Barringer, 49, were taken by ambulance to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. The daughter was released from the hospital Thursday night, hospital spokesman Tony Raker said.
Mrs. Reid was listed in serious condition, but Reid aides said she was not expected to require surgery. She was being treated in the hospital's trauma intensive care unit, according to a staffer with the hospital's information service, who declined to give his name.
"Mrs. Reid has a broken nose, broken back and broken neck," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said in a statement. "Lana has a neck injury and facial lacerations." Manley said Mrs. Reid could feel her extremities.
Virginia State Police said Mrs. Reid and her daughter were travelling northbound on Interstate-95 in stop-and-go traffic when their Honda Odyssey was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer loaded with rolls of plastic. The impact forced the Reid family's minivan to rear-end a Jeep Grand Cherokee, which in turn struck a Chevrolet Cobalt.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Alan W. Snader, 59, was charged with reckless driving, police said. He was not injured. All involved were wearing seat belts, police said.
Harry Reid went to the hospital after being notified of the accident and returned to Congress for a meeting with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on efforts to pass health care legislation. He went back to the hospital Thursday evening.
Reid, 70, met Landra while they were attending school in Nevada. They were married in 1959. Lana was born two years later. The couple also have four sons: Rory, Leif, Josh and Key. Lana Barringer has three children.
-
Associated Press writer Christine Simmons contributed to this report.