A car transporting North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and state Rep. David Willis was rammed from behind several times on a highway on Thursday.
“Security was driving the Speaker and Rep. Willis back to Raleigh after a visit for a series of events today,” Demi Dowdy, a spokeswoman for the Speaker’s office, said in a statement. “On the drive back, the vehicle was rammed from behind several times.”
Car transporting North Carolina lawmakers 'rammed from behind’ on interstate https://t.co/ZVlJYCdHmG pic.twitter.com/xzXt0OX6r7
— New York Post (@nypost) February 24, 2023
Dowdy added that nobody was injured in the vehicle carrying the two Republican lawmakers, and the General Assembly Police and North Carolina State Highway Patrol are now looking into the incident.
“They are still investigating the motive, but at this time there is no reason to believe that Chairman Willis or Speaker Moore were personally targeted by the driver who hit the vehicle,” the statement read.
The suspect has been identified as James Matthew Brogden, according to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman. He is facing a number of charges, including driving while intoxicated or impaired (DWI), obstructing a public officer, and injury to personal property.
During an interview with WRAL on Friday, Moore said that he was initially worried that the driver intentionally crashed into them and downplayed concerns about whether it was a targeted attack.
“I don’t believe that was the case. I think this person, from what I’ve seen, was just so impaired to such a stand that he was just out there and it could have been anybody, but it just happened to be us,” Moore said.
He also said that the accident could have been much worse, explaining that it was “good he hit us” instead of someone “in a little car,” or a “young or elderly driver” because a trained law enforcement officer was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.
“I’ve talked to a couple of police officers since then, [and] that hit, at that speed of a car, I’ve seen this, it could make a car spin out, flip over, all kind[s] of bad stuff. Thank God we’re all just alright,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement on Friday that he was glad to learn that everyone was okay.
“I told [Moore] I am glad that no one was hurt in this alarming incident and that law enforcement caught the suspect. He said he looked forward to a less eventful ride home today,” the governor said on Twitter.
