NC Driver Hits University Cycling Team, Killing 2 And Sending 7 More To The Hospital

Milligan University, a small, private college outside Johnson City, Tennessee, is mourning the loss of two members of the university cycling team who died Wednesday morning after a North Carolina driver hit them with his car. The New York Times reports that in addition to killing two people, the driver also hospitalized seven others. Police arrested the driver, who now faces a series of charges. 

Details on what happened in the moments before the crash are still unclear, but so far, we know 69-year-old John Benfield hit a group of 11 cyclists out on a training ride at about 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. The group was reportedly riding along Tennessee's Highway 19E in Carter County, when Benfield drove into them near Simerly Creek Road. Local law enforcement hasn't commented on intent, either, but prosecutors have charged Benfield with two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle by recklessness.

Benfield was booked into the Carter County jail and at time of publication doesn't appear to have been released on bond. Authorities have since identified the two students who died as Brayden Rogers and Haylan Engdahl, both of whom were sophomores at the university.

According to WVLT, emergency responders dispatched "several medical helicopters" to rush the injured students to the hospital, where four of the seven are reportedly still in critical condition. Officials have said the crash remains under investigation. In a statement, the Tennessee State Patrol said, "We know the families, the Milligan community and people across this region want answers. We want those answers too. Our responsibility now is to conduct a careful and thorough investigation and provide information based on the facts."

Authorities will likely release more information in the coming days, as we wait to learn how the hospitalized students recover. And whether intentional or not, at least Benfield chose not to flee the scene. The same can't be said for the New York driver who killed 29-year-old Paulina Tec Choc on Tuesday morning. Streetsblog reports the driver of a white pickup truck hit Tec Choc from behind, ran her over, and then fled the scene. Police are still investigating, but as the time of writing, they have yet to identify the driver responsible for the fatal hit-and-run.

The U.S. has long been hostile toward cyclists and resistant to any safety improvements, but it's been getting worse in recent years. Official figures for 2025 don't appear to be available yet, but the IIHS reports that in 2024, drivers killed 1,075 people riding bikes. That's an increase of 73% compared to 2010, when cycling deaths were at their lowest since the 1960s.