Two students killed, driver charged after crash into Tennessee college cycling team

Two Tennessee college team cyclists were killed, seven others were injured and a driver was criminally charged after he struck team members who were training on a road Wednesday, officials said.

The crash around 9 a.m. on Highway 19 in Carter County killed Milligan University sophomores Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, the small Christian liberal arts college and the state Highway Patrol said.

“I would like to invite the entire community into prayer with us, into grief with the families, with us, and into deep prayer for the families of those we have lost,” university President Stephen Waers said at a news conference.

The driver of the vehicle, John Benfield, 69, of Newland, North Carolina, is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle by recklessness, First Judicial District Attorney General Steven Finney said.

In addition to the people who died, seven other members of that team were injured, Highway Patrol Maj. Roy Brown said.

The investigation continues, and some facts could change as witnesses are interviewed and evidence is examined, Brown said.

“We know the families and Milligan University deeply want answers, and we want to provide those answers,” he said.

Sam Rogers said he passed by the accident. At first, he saw Carter County sheriff’s vehicles and ambulances arriving, and then he came upon the aftermath.

“I was horrified to see numerous crumpled bikes. There was a person on the road injured and another covered in blood being helped,” Rogers said. “The bicycles were completely destroyed.”

Two of the victims were taken to the hospital by medical helicopter, Ballard Health Chief Operating Officer Eric Deaton said.

Six of the seven injured students were still hospitalized Wednesday evening. Two of them had been stabilized and were receiving care in the medical-surgical unit, Ballard Health said.

Four others were in critical condition in the surgical intensive care unit, the hospital’s trauma medical director, Dr. Bracken Burns, said at the news conference.

Finney said the members of the team were very experienced.

“This is an elite cycling team. It’s not a bunch of just club guys getting together to ride. They know what they’re doing,” he said.

Online jail records showed that Benfield had been booked and did not indicate that he had bonded out.

Attempts to contact someone associated with him through public records were not immediately successful, and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Milligan University is in northeastern Tennessee, around 12 miles from the North Carolina border.