What to Know
- Police say Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was seen driving at a “high rate of speed” just before he rear-ended another car on Interstate 70 in Maryland.
- A state police report said Fetterman was at fault in Sunday morning's crash.
- Police say both cars were towed and Fetterman, his wife Gisele and the motorist he hit were all hospitalized for minor injuries.
A witness saw Sen. John Fetterman's Chevrolet SUV speed past her prior to the Pennsylvania Democrat rear-ending another driver on a Maryland interstate last weekend, Maryland State Police said.
The police report said Fetterman caused the Sunday, June 9, 2024, morning crash along I-70.
Fetterman was treated at a hospital for a bruised shoulder, according to a statement from his Senate office.
Fetterman, a Democrat, and his wife Gisele were “involved in a car accident with another driver,” the statement said, and were both evaluated at a local hospital and discharged within hours. The first-term senator then returned to his home in Braddock, Pennsylvania, and was back at the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., for votes this week.
"Not the best way to spend our 16th wedding anniversary but we’re doing well and happy to be back home in Braddock with the family," Fetterman said in a post on X.
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You might have heard G and I were in a car accident yesterday. Thank you all for the well wishes.
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 10, 2024
Not the best way to spend our 16th wedding anniversary but we’re doing well and happy to be back home in Braddock with the family. pic.twitter.com/OKFmbUXtNF
Gisele Fetterman and the 62-year-old driver of the Chevy Impala Fetterman struck were also hospitalized after the crash, which happened on a dry road surface, Maryland State Police said in a crash report obtained by NBC Philadelphia.
Everyone involved was wearing a seat belt, police said.
Fetterman's Chevy Traverse rear-ended the woman's sedan in the westbound lanes of I-70, just before the split for I-68 around 7:45 a.m. local time, state police said. The crash left Fetterman's SUV disabled with front-end damage and the woman's sedan with disabling damage to its rear.
A witness told Maryland troopers that Fetterman's SUV "passed her traveling at a high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit at which she was traveling at the time." The posted speed limit is 70 mph.
The force of the wreck caused Fetterman's front air bags to deploy, troopers said.
Fetterman was not tested for alcohol or substance use, and the report does not say he was distracted.
No citations have been filed in the crash.
Earlier this year, the Democratic senator pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to a citation for exceeding the speed limit by 34 mph, according to court records.
Fetterman, 54, suffered a stroke in May 2022 while campaigning for his seat. As a result, he still has some trouble speaking fluidly and quickly processing spoken conversation, and he often uses devices in congressional hearings and routine conversations to transcribe spoken words in real time.
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